


Wake Me When It’s Over

by Camphalfgalra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Multi, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2019-06-05 23:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15182144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camphalfgalra/pseuds/Camphalfgalra
Summary: At eighteen years old, Lance shouldn't be running through the people barren streets with a horde of undead trailing behind him at his heels. He should be at college, chatting with his best friend and hooking up with girls over the weekend. Seems like fate had different plans for him.





	1. Strangers Just Like Me

The silence was something that Lance had always hated.

It had started when he had first began to babysat his nieces and nephews. If the house was quiet, he knew that they were up to something, and it was more than often something that required him to either scrub the walls clean or mop the bathroom floor. Looking back at those days, his heart yearned to able to see Mateo's cheeky smile and Mila's devilish grin before they pulled a prank on the others.

Alas, those days were far behind him.

The human population had fallen into ruins when an unknown virus was unleashed into the world about a bit less year ago, supposedly under government care. The only thing Lance could say about that was that the government was full of lying bastards. The virus had taken over the world's population in less than three months, and now, six months later, there was no cure or any antibiotic to cure a zombie transformation. They were living in hell, just waiting and hoping to live long enough to see the next sunrise.

He hated it. 

No one had asked him if he wanted to be thrown in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but as usual, he was thrown into a battle without knowing what the hell to do. It was like those games you played online, except you actually had to worry about staying alive. Out here, the only resuscitation there was was when you had been bit and were going to turn into one of the walkers, which was what they called the stupid zombies since they walked even after death. 

Lance wiped the sweat off his brow, perching himself next to the window of what seemed to have been some young kid's room before the virus broke out. It had been his home for the past week while he tried to look for any supplies so he could move out of this town, and while it had been good shelter, he knew he couldn't stay much longer. More and more walkers were showing up every day, and he did _not_ want to be their next meal. He was too good looking to die anytime soon, in his opinion.

"Hunk, what's our food status?"

"Well, we still have a few cans that we found in the deli down the street and there's also a bunch of ramen, although I don't think we'll have much use for it," the mentioned boy replied, scratching his chin. 

Lance emitted a sigh, slightly pouting. "Is that all? Don't we have anything else?"

"Well it's mainly just a bunch of cans that we shoved into the back of our truck," Hunk said, frowning. "There's some beans, some pasta, and some corn."

"So basically just a bunch of vegetables?" Lance asked, arching a brow. Receiving a nod from Hunk, he groaned. 

"Great. You know, I never thought I'd miss corn chips as much as I'm missing them now," Lance said, closing his eyes. 

Hunk hummed in agreement. "Me too, man. Oh, and some salsa too!"

"I miss real cooking," Lance responded, opening his eyes slowly, sadness evident in them. "How long has it been that we've gone without real food?"

"Six months and counting."

"It feels a lot longer than that," Lance said, biting his bottom lip. "Do you think...we'll ever have actual food again? Not just canned food?"

Hunk sighed. "I don't know, but I wish we did. Remember when we had cookies every Friday and exchanged them with one another? Man," he chuckled, "those were the days."

"If you two are done complaining about your lack of food then I suggest that it's time we get moving," a voice said from behind Hunk, low and clearly annoyed. 

Lance rolled his eyes. "Pidge, what's your problem? We're just trying to remember the good old times, you know!"

"The old times are gone and there's nothing we can do about it," Pidge snapped, crossing her arms across her chest. "We're living in a world where all we have is canned food and the occasional bird meat, and you have to deal with it. Stop complaining and just be happy you have something instead of starving to death like many others have."

Hunk grimaced. "Gross, man. Why are you so hung up on us getting out of here? It's been the safest place we've been in ever since we left the Garrison after it was flocked with walkers."

Pidge lowered her gaze to the ground, kicking a pebble that was on the ground with her sneaker. 

"I had to kill more than ten different walkers on the way back from the fucking deli."

Hunk gaped at her. "More than ten? No way, that's impossible! The roads were clear before you left! Where the hell did ten walkers come out of?"

Pidge walked towards the window, motioning for Lance to move out of the way with her hand. Lance grudgingly allowed her to look out the window, leaning back and watching her in an uninterested manner. Hunk leaned over her shoulder, Pidge only glancing at him in slight annoyance before pointing down the street with a finger. 

"See that light red house down the street and the one next to it? The walkers came out of there, and they looked like they haven't seen the sun in a while. Naturally I killed them all with what I had, but I think that the walkers in the other houses are realizing that we're here and that they have fresh food," she said grimly, frowning. 

Lance pursed his lips. "Can't we like, shoot them all up or something? I happen to be an excellent shot and, well, I could shoot any of the walkers that try to attack any of us."

Hunk shook his head. "No, Lance. We barely have enough ammo as is, and we have to stock up. We only have a knife and what, two more guns with empty barrels?"

Lance sighed impatiently. "Hunk, you don't have to remind me twice that we're running on a limited supply of amo. I got the memo a long time ago when we almost dropped the last few boxes trying to get out of the Garrison."

Pidge shook her head. "Look, we have a knife and what seems to be a shovel in the closet down the hall. We'll look for anything useful here, and once we're ready, we'll get out of here as fast as we can before anymore curious walkers try to attack us."

"Sounds like a good plan," Hunk said, smiling. "When do we start?"

"Now," Pidge replied quickly before making a beeline for the door, lightly jogging down the hall and into the closet that was opposite the room where they had been staying in. 

Lance placed his hands in his hips. "Is it just me or does she seem to be acting more uptight than usual? It's been a few weeks since we left Garrison, so why is she still so hung up on it?"

Hunk shot Lance a dirty look. "Garrison was a sanctuary for families, Lance. She lost her mom in the middle of the struggle with the walkers, and was the only one besides us to make it out alive. Her mom was the last living person she knew," Hunk said sadly, watching as Pidge drew out a box of what looked like toys from the closet. 

Lance's eyes widened before he averted his gaze to the ground. "Oh."

"Hey Lance, I found some ammo all the way in the back of the closet!"

Lance brought his gaze back up to the girl, her small smile making a rare appearance. 

"That's great!" He said, feigning cheerfulness. "I'll take a look at it!"

He grudgingly stood up and walked towards the ammo the girl had found, looking over it and not paying attention. He was distracted. 

_“Her mom was the last living person she knew."_

How many more people like her were out there? So many people had lost family members to the virus, which took lives quickly and returned the once living back to their families as rotting corpses that had an urge to feast on human flesh, or just flesh in general. He too had been part of those people with great losses. 

He missed Veronica and Luis teasing him about his crushes on random kids at school. He missed Mateo clinging onto him like a monkey before bedtime and begging him to read a story. He missed his mom who always knew how to make what she called "sopa para el corazón roto" or, "soup for the broken heart," for when his plans to ask girls out didn't necessarily work out. He missed his various aunts and uncles. He missed knowing where everyone was and missed having direct communication with them. He missed his family. 

"Are you crying?" Pidge asked, looking at Lance incredulously. 

"What? No, no!" Lance quickly replied, wiping his eyes furiously with his fists. "I just, got a little dust in my eyes! I'm totally fine, Pidge." He cleared his throat. 

"You know uh, I'm pretty sure this house has a basement. I saw it the first time we cleared the house if any roaming walkers. See if you can find any weapons or something down there, okay?"

Pidge's brows creased together, the girl looking at Lance worriedly. "Okay...? Are you sure you're fine?"

"Of course I am!" Lance said, lying through his teeth. "You just focus on ammo, and we'll be out of here in a jiffy."

Pidge exchanged a look with Hunk, who was siting in the edge of the bed in the room they had been staying in for the past week. Hunk only shook his head gently, Pidge nodding understandingly before making her way down the stairs, holding her knife out in front of her for protection. 

Prying the basement door open, Pidge cautiously lowered herself into the room, still gripping onto the blade tightly. They had cleared it out before, hell they'd even dumped the bodies outside, but one could never be too cautious with the dead. 

Spotting no movement, she let out a relieved sigh. She walked towards a work bench in the middle of the room, quickly scouring the top for any supplies. Finding nothing, she quickly headed towards the cupboards in the far back of the room, digging through old piles of folded clothes. Coming up empty handed, she groaned frustratedly. 

"Pidge? Did you find anything?" Lance's voice called out from the top of the stairs, clear as day.

Pidge dusted off her jeans and stood up, heading back up the stairs with her knife in hand and two shirts in the other.

"No, but I did find a bunch of old clothes. It looks like it'll only fit either you or Hunk though," she said, tossing them at Lance'a open arms. 

"You know, they might actually be useful," Lance said, smiling. "Thanks."

"Thank the person who left the clothes in the drawer," Pidge muttered before walking past him and back up the stairs to the second floor of the house. 

She threw herself on the mattress in the room they were sharing, closing her eyes and emitting a sigh. 

She hated living like this. She hated not knowing if she would survive to see the next sunrise. She hated having to take belongings that didn't belong to her as if she was rejoicing in the dead's deaths. She felt like a vulture taking things that didn't belong to her while breaking into houses, but this was the only way she would survive. 

"I never asked, but how did you get so good with handling a knife?" Hunk asked through spoonfuls of beans, sitting in a chair opposite the bed. 

Pidge sat up, taking her knife out of her pouch and admiring it silently. 

"Well, it belonged to my neighbor who had an extensive collection of knives. We used to be best friends growing up, and he taught me how to defend myself against people who bothered me," she said, chuckling softly. "It got me in trouble, but pulling a pocket knife out on people scared them into not bothering me anymore. He got me this one for my fifteenth birthday."

"Not your typical birthday gift," Hunk said, shrugging. "Oh well, who cares? That's a seriously awesome knife. How did he know that giving it to you was a good idea? Wasn't your fifteenth birthday before the zombies started to appear?"

Pidge placed the blade beside her on the bed, clasping her hands together nervously.

"Well, my fifteenth birthday was a few months before the virus spread to the city. He was going to move out of the house next door and further into the heart of the city, and he gave this to me as a gift just because he felt like it. He said that I might need it in the future since I was probably going to lose contact with him," she said softly.

Lance scoffed from his position in the doorway. "Well, guess he's a prophet, because you sure do need a knife for the world we're living in now."

Hunk whistled. "Man. One year ago we were still studying like crazy for school and now we're fighting to survive."

Lance snorted. "I know," he said, taking a seat in the chair next to the bedroom window. "I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss just having to worry about homework. Life was so much easier as a senior," he complained.

"You saying you miss senior year is a big fat mood," Hunk said, sighing miserably. "We never even made it to prom or the end of our first semester. It feels like my intelligence is slowly being replaced by a bunch of facts on what fruits are poisonous and which ones are edible."

Lance cast a look at Pidge, who was looking down at her feet.

"You okay?"

Pidge flashed him a wry smile. "Not really."

"Wanna talk about it?"

Pidge shrugged. "I don't know. I think it's just me being a crybaby or something."

Lance's gaze softened. "Your family?"

"My brother, specifically," Pidge replied, pulling her feet up onto the bed and wrapping her arms around her knees. "Matt used to always talk about how he'd rather be stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse than be a senior. He said it so many times that my parents were convinced that he was praying every night so that zombies would just appear and take over the world." She lowered her gaze to the ground.

"He finally got his wish six years too late. He's not even here to see it," she said quietly. "When my mom heard what was happening, she immediately brought Matt up and every night at the Garrison she would cry herself to sleep because this reminded her of Matt and his days when he was still with us."

"Wait, your brother was Matt? Matt Holt?" Lance asked incredulously. "As in, Matt Holt who went on the Kerberos Expedition with the Garrison?"

Pidge nodded. "With Shiro and Sam Holt? Yeah, that's him. Stupid Kerberos," she muttered. "They made it sound like some great thing when it was just a mission to find the drugs on the black market that some stupid goons had been selling."

"Garrison said there was an explosion," Hunk said softly. "Is that–"

"That's a lie!" Pidge said angrily in a sudden outburst, her voice raising. "If there was an explosion there would at least be bodies to recover, but they never even tried to find them. They don't know what happened and just tried to cover it up so that they wouldn't look stupid in front of all of us! For all we know, everyone could be alive," she hissed, eyes wide and feral. 

A crackling sound came from the far end of the room, the radio that Pidge had managed to find suddenly bursting to life.

". _..escaped...prisoner_..."

Pidge and Lance exchanged shocked expressions before scrabbling for the radio, Pidge diving and grabbing to off the table it had been on. Quickly pressing a button, she put the radio up to her face, her brows pinching together. 

"Hello? Is anyone there?" 

The crackling noise stopped, leaving PIdge standing in the middle of the room with a dead radio in her hand. Hey eyes were wide, full of shock and confusion.

"Who was it?" Hunk asked cautiously, slightly frowning. "Was it help? I heard someone say prisoner!"

"Yeah, but they also said 'escaped', Hunk," Lance replied, his face showing deep concern as he walked towards Pidge. "Who was that?"

"I don't know," Pidge confessed, clenching the radio tightly in her hand, "but I'm not going to give up until we find out who that is. Gather everything you can," she said, sudden determination in her tone. "We're leaving before nightfall."

Hunk's eyes widened. "What? We can't just leave our shelter, especially during the night. More of those freaks are going to know we're fresh bait when we drive through town in a freaking car!"

Pidge scowled. "If you two won't come with me, then I'll just go alone. There's an empty abandoned car in the garage. All I have to do is fill it up and then I'll be ready to get out of here. I'm leaving with or without you," she said stubbornly, glaring up at Lance.

Lance shook his head. "Pidge, you're insane if you think we're going to let you go alone. We're a team, remember?"

Pidge let out a small sigh, arching a brow. "So you're okay with leaving this place right now?"

"Yes."

"The place where we've stayed in for the past week which has been the safest place since Garrison?" She questioned, crossing her arms across her chest. "You know, this place?"

"Yeah yeah," Lance replied, waving her off. "I know what I said, Pidge. You don't have to repeat it. Unless," he said, a teasing edge in his voice, "you want me to let you go alone and be a strong, independent girl."

"Ha!" She laughed, eyeing Lance with a smirk, "I'm strong and independent even though I'm with you guys. You just don't see it because you're more focused on shooting everything that moves without even knowing if it's a walker or a human."

"Well at this point, they're really the same thing, aren't they?" Lance shrugged. "Man, do not try to call me out on shooting stuff. Out here we shoot everything that moves unless it's wearing a primary color."

"What?" Pidge asked, suddenly at loss. "Primary colors?"

"You wear green and Hunk wears yellow, you know, primary colors!" Lance joked, grinning. "I'm blue, so that just completes the list of primary colors."

She scoffed. "That is the most stupidest thing I've ever heard," Pidge replied, rolling her eyes and turning towards the bed, grabbing her knife and sticking it in her pouch. "Anyone could wear green or yellow."

Lance wrinkled his nose. "I don't know if it was the zombie apocalypse that ruined your mind but green and yellow are not my go to colors, especially green. Anyone with fashion sense would know that."

"Guys–"

"Says the one wearing blue," Pidge replied, grabbing her sweater off the rack behind the closet door. "Blue just isn't your color, man," she teased.

Lance gasped, following after her as she walked out of the room. "How dare you– Hunk, tell her she's lying!"

Hunk sighed exasperatedly. "You two are going to give me grey hair before we even die from getting bit by a zombie," he said, watching as Pidge filled her back with clothes and extra ammo for both his and Lance's guns. 

"Hey, none of us are going to die," Pidge replied, tossing her bag over her shoulder and eyeing Hunk with a small frown. 

"We are if we leave here tonight," Hunk replied crossly. "This place is safe! Why are we leaving the one place that has provided us with protection for a week and is the safest place we've been at since Garrison got overrun? We're literally sentencing ourselves to death out there."

Pidge rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Look, that radio chatter we heard means something. I have no idea what it means, but it's obviously important if we're hearing it being broadcast over the radio. If someone escaped, then that means that they were being held hostage against their will."

"Even if that's true, why should we help them?" Hunk asked. "We have to look out for ourselves, and that means staying here where it's safe and we aren't in danger of dying."

"Hunk, if Pidge said she had to kill more than ten of those half-dead freaks today, what makes you so sure that we're safe?" Lance questioned, placing a hand on his hip. "We both know that unless we're in a governmental refugee, we won't last much longer. Staying in houses that are in zombie infested neighborhoods isn't going to work for much longer. Our best shot now is to look for more survivors, like the refugee that escaped whatever facility it was that we heard over the radio."

"But–"

"Lance is right," Pidge said, glaring up at Hunk, "we aren't safe here if we stay much longer. The only real place we'd be safe at is at a refugee center, and the more people we get in our group means more supplies to go around."

"Even if you're right, what are we going to do tonight?" Hunk questioned, narrowing his eyes. "We can't just sleep in our car. That would make us bait, and I'm not ready to die yet."

"Garrison might have a few buildings that can be safe to crash in tonight. Our goal tonight is to go back to Garrison and figure out where we're going after that. Once we have a plan, we drive around and try to recruit other survivors that won't kill us and find whoever the escaped prisoner is," Pidge said, looking directly into Hunk's eyes. "I know you're scared, but this is how the world is now. We fight to survive and see the next sunrise, and we do whatever it takes to make it to the end."

Hunk emitted a sigh, pouting. "Fine," he said childishly, "but Lance is driving and I'm sitting in the back of the truck to make sure to shoot down any walkers that may be following us."

Pidge nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She turned and walked out of the room, heading downstairs into the kitchen, presumably looking for more knives to add to her pouch.

Lance whistled. "She's kinda cute when she's authoritative, isn't she?" He asked Hunk, a small smirk on his face. 

Hunk sent him a dirty look. "Keep it in your pants, Lance."

The screech that followed after that was enough to prompt Hunk to agree to leaving immediately. It was loud enough to attract nearby walkers, and he decided that maybe having Pidge and Lance in the same team was going to end up being a small problem considering Lance's reputation for trying to woo girls only to fail miserably. Only Lance could still live in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and try to woo girls at the same time without any care. 

Hunk let out a sigh. He really needed to rethink his life choices and take a nap.

* * *

Pidge fumbled with the controls of her radio, biting her bottom lip and narrowing her eyes as she tried to search for any signal that someone was alive out there. So far, the last message they had heard was the one that had mentioned an escaped prisoner, and that had been more than two hours ago. They were now on the road back to the Garrison, and in the hour that they had traveled, the radio had been completely silent. 

"So," Lance started, not taking his eyes off the road, "you know how to build things?"

"I'm better with computers, but yes, I can build some things," she said, not taking her eyes off the radio. "Stupid thing, "she muttered frustratedly, "You were working a while ago."

"Maybe it was just a one time thing," Lance suggested, a small smile on his face. "I mean, that's the first time that it's picked up anything, right?"

Pidge sat in silence, casting her gaze out of the window of the car, avoiding Lance's question.

Lance's smile slipped. "Wait, you mean–"

"I've been picking up the signal for the past week," Pidge admitted. "I didn't say anything because I didn't think it was important until today when they said that someone escaped. That's when I started getting worried that maybe the radio chatter I had been picking up on was something that I wasn't supposed to hear." 

"What do you mean it wasn't something you were supposed to hear?" Lance questioned suspiciously. 

"The people were talking about weapons and government stuff, Lance. They were talking about the walkers like they were normal or something, all while talking about prisoners at the same time." She shook her head. 

"I don't know who the escaped prisoner is, but if he had to escape and the facility he was in is looking for him then it can't be a good sign."

Lance frowned, risking a glance at the girl. "Why are you so hell bent on trying to help this escaped prisoner? They could be a criminal or something, Pidge."

"He has to be someone important if they're that worried that he's leaving, right?" Pidge said, meeting Lance's gaze with her amber eyes. "If we find him first, he can tell us why these people are trying to find him and we'll also have a powerful ally."

Lance's frown dug itself further into his features. "That can't be the only reason," he urged on, watching as Pidge's gaze quickly flickered back to her hands. "What else did you hear?"

She let out a small sigh. 

"When I was listening for a signal last night while you and Hunk were asleep, they mentioned that it was a 'foreign prisoner' and that he was 'heavily sedated' so that he wouldn't escape. They also mentioned Garrison along with more prisoners, all of them with numbers as identification instead of any actual names."

Lance arched a brow, turning his attention back to the road. "Why would a refugee center call people prisoners if they're in a refugee center?"

Pidge nodded. "I know. What if it's actually not a refugee center? What if there's something bigger brewing right under our noses?"

"If there was a bigger threat than zombies then I'd be impressed," Lance replied, shrugging. "I mean, is there really a bigger threat than half dead freaks trying to eat our brains?"

"I don't know, but if people are being held as prisoners in the middle of a zombie apocalypse when they're only looking for refugee, then I think that there are way bigger problems that might have to do with the zombies," Pidge said lowly. 

A banging sound on the roof of the car made Pidge and Lance emit shrieks of surprise, the girl immediately opening the window and peering up, only to find Hunk sending her a small smile.

"Are you crazy?!" She hissed, "I was about to chuck a knife at your head!"

"It's getting boring sitting out here alone. Can I go inside now? I haven't seen any walkers in the past twenty minutes."

Lance let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding in, narrowing his eyes as he peered out the rearview mirror. 

"Are you sure there aren't any more of those freaks following us? I don't want to stop only fo one to jump out of nowhere."

"I'm sure, Lance," Hunk replied, sending him a knowing look. "Just stop the car and let me in, will you? We're about a half hour away from Garrison, and I do not want to be jumped out here when we reach the stupid place."

"Fine."

After stopping the car to let Hunk inside, the trio continued on their journey, Pidge continuing to fiddle with her radio.

"How long have you been trying to get a signal?" Hunk asked curiously, watching on in fascination as Pidge slammed her hand to the side of the radio frustratedly.

"For however long we've been on the road," she replied without looking up, scowling as all she heard was static. "This good for nothing radio is killing me."

"Chuck it at a walker," Lance suggested, grinning when he was sent an annoyed glance by Pidge. "Okay okay, don't do that. Seriously, if it's not going to work then just leave it there. There's no use getting all worked up over something that's clearly not working."

Hunk nodded. "Agreed. Besides," he said, "we already know the plan for what we're doing once we get to Garrison. We're going to walk around and look for whoever this escaped prisoner is and then we'll find some shelter for the night. Hey, why are we even helping an escaped prisoner?" Hunk asked, sudden realization dawning on him. 

"Because–" A sudden movement caught her attention and she let out a screech, pointing a finger at the dashboard.

"Deer!"

Lance screeched as he swerved to avoid the deer, the creature looking after the car in confusion while the trio inside the pickup tried to regain their composure after screaming about a deer. 

"Are you crazy?!" Lance screeched, eyeing Pidge with a frantic gaze. "You didn't have to scream about a freaking deer! I almost had twenty different heart attacks!"

"Well I'm sorry!" Pidge snapped back, glaring at him. "Would you rather have to take a hard swerve and scream for a bit or crash into a deer and have our only source of transportation be out of service, huh?!"

"You didn't have to yell!" Lance snapped.

"You didn't have to swerve off the road either!" Pidge hissed, clenching her fists. "I only alerted you because your eyes are everywhere except the road!"

"That's not–"

"It's true, buddy," Hunk replied, sending him a small crooked smile. Ignoring Lance's death glare, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Look, Lance. You should just let me drive for a while. You're clearly very distracted–"

"I'm fine, Hunk," Lance snapped, suddenly annoyed. "Besides, we're almost at Garrison. Just sit back and let me do the driving, okay? I don't need anyone else trying to say that my driving is shitty," he hissed, sending Pidge a scathing look.

"Fine!" She said, narrowing her eyes, "I didn't ask for you to almost crash! You did that by yourself."

"Pidge," Hunk warned, "don't keep egging the fight on."

She only sent him a death glare before continuing to fiddle with her radio, shooting Lance occasional death glares during the remaining fifteen minutes of their ride. The death glares aimed at one another, however, immediately stopped as Hunk pointed out to the Garrison in the distance once he could spot it from the window as the car came to a slow stop. 

Well, what was left of the Garrison, anyways.

The once tall and shining building that had been home to various army cadets and refugees a week ago was nothing but a burning mess of junk. The windows were visibly broken and entrances all broken, hordes of the undead walking around the front behind the gates, the stench of rotting corpses hitting the trio's noses as they came closer to the Garrison. It truly looked like a war had been fought on the campus of what was supposed to be a safe and secure refugee.

Lance felt his heart drop as he spotted various familiar faces that he had come to know during his brief stay at the Garrison, the car engine shutting off, leaving the trio sitting in absolute silence as they stared at what had they had previously called home.

"The walkers really did a number on this place, didn't they?" Hunk said softly, staring at a zombie that was stuck on the glass in a window.

"This place was supposed to be a safe haven..." Lance said, biting his lip. "Do you think anyone survived?" He asked quickly, snapping his head to look into Pidge's eyes.

"I...I don't know," she replied softly, looking on at the smoking mess that was the Garrison. "Maybe. I mean, we survived, but I really don't know."

"Most of the people there were families that lived in the area," Hunk said, putting a finger up to his chin. "There were a lot of young people there, weren't there?"

"Yeah, but do you really think–"

"This makes no sense," Pidge said, cutting Lance off. "The Garrison is a literal army station. It trained people for war. How do they get overwhelmed by the few zombies that snuck in when they're literally the ones with the guns and tanks to destroy these freaks? Why did they make us leave?"

"Well, they might have had the guns, but zombies are zombies."

"Guys," Lance said, cupping his eyes around his eyes and looking away from the Garrison.

"They're zombies, but they can be taken out with guns, which is what Garrison had."

"Guys," Lance said more urgently, narrowing his eyes suspiciously as he locked his attention onto what looked like someone riding a motorcycle towards one of the side Garrison buildings that housed weapons.

"You're right but you're also dead wrong, Pidge. Zombies are–"

"Guys!" Lance yelled, grabbing both of their attention.

Pidge looked at him in annoyance, crossing her arms across her chest expectantly. 

"What the hell do you want?"

Instead of replying, Lance grabbed her face with his hands  and twisted it around to face in the direction where the motorcycle was moving in. 

"Hey, quit–!" Her eyes widened and she stopped trying to push his hands away, her jaw slightly dropping as she zeroed in on the figure. Before Lance could react, Pidge had started banging her radio on the car seat, her brows furrowed determinedly.

"That's not going to–"

" _Fugitive prisoner 117-9875 has been brought back into Garrison custody._ " 

" _You already turned the others...I know what you're doing!_ "

Lance's jaw dropped. "No way! That guy sounds like Shiro!"

"Garrison?" Hunk asked, evidently confused. 

"Wait," Lance said, sudden realization dawning on him. Without any warning, he pressed down hard on the gas pedal, bringing the car to life as he sped down rapidly towards the Garrison.

"Why are we going towards Garrison?!" Hunk asked, panic evident in his tone. "There's a lot of zombies there!"

"Because that guy on the motorcycle is Keith!" Lance shouted back, not noticing how Pidge went wide eyed.

"Wait, are you sure?" Hunk asked, his panic replaced by confusion. "Didn't he leave the city months before the infected overran it?"

Instead of responding, Lance brought the car to a stop a few feet away from the building where a motorcycle was parked outside, grabbing his gun. Once he made sure the safety was off, he turned to face Hunk and Pidge with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"The guy in that building has to be Shiro. You guys stay here and protect the car so that when I get back we get Shiro in and out of here. I'll go in and save him." He took a deep breath before pushing his car door open, slamming it shut and making a run for the building in front of him without looking back to make sure that Hunk and Pidge were on board with his plan.

Quickly firing some shots at a few zombies who had started walking towards him once they heard all the commotion, he reached the building. It looked more like a large makeshift building, and all the guards at the front, Lance realized in horror, were the zombies that had recently turned after being left for dead by none other than Keith when he had punched them into unconsciousness so that he could slip in.

He quickly ran into the wooden makeshift building, only to come to a screeching sudden halt when he saw Keith punching two officials that were standing around Shiro in the face, recognizing one as a Garrison official. Iverson, he thought to himself. Yes, it was the same bitch who had chastised him for trying to prove that he was good enough to fight with the other officials who's task it was to shoot down the zombies that had strayed too close to the refugee.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Keith's dark purple eyes met his blue eyes, the two staring at each other in shock and confusion. 

Lance snapped back into reality as he realized that Keith was trying to help Shiro, his mouth snapping shut into a frown, his brows pinching together.

"Nope, no you don't! I'm saving Shiro," he said snootily, walking towards Shiro and hoisting him upright by his right side, Keith hoisting him up by his left.

"Who the hell are you?" Keith asked, scrunching his nose. 

"The name's Lance," the taller male replied, quirking a brow. Upon seeing no flicker of recognition on Keith's features, his slight expectant smirk transformed into an annoyed frown. "Seriously?! We were rivals during sophomore year at Arus High School! You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck?"

Keith's confused frown turned into an annoyed scowl. "Oh, you're that jackass that almost set the science lab on fire during a chemistry experiment. Don't suppose you were the jerk who unleashed the zombies into the world given your reputation of fucking up when it comes to science, huh," Keith stated more than asked, eyeing Lance with  passive aggressive eyes. 

Lance huffed indignantly. "No! Listen, I just came to save Shiro, so if you could lay off and let me get out of here before the stupid walkers—"

"Walkers?"

"–come back and start trying to tear this building down!"

"You lured the stupid zombies here?!" Keith all but screeched, eyeing Lance in horror. "What the hell?! You're more of an idiot that I realized!"

"You're the one who left the guards to turn into zombies who I  killed so I could get in here!" Lance shot back, slowly growing more angrier as the seconds passed. "You attracted a million walkers with your stupid bike!"

"Says the stupid one who's shooting zombies instead of dealing with them quietly!" Keith spat back. "Who the hell shoots zombies?!"

"I do! It's the most effective way of killing the creeps!"

"Your stupidity just made us bait!" Keith yelled, glaring at Lance in newfound anger, the two bickering males not realizing that the door had opened and closed. "Why the hell did you have to step in and sabotage my mission? You're such a fucking–"

Before he could finish his sentence, a figure dashed towards Keith, tackling him onto the ground, leaving Lance to hold onto Shiro tightly so he wouldn't fall. Keith emitted a loud cry; Lance's eyes widened and he felt his stomach drop, panic taking control over his body. 

"Keith!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I am well aware that I posted this four times and I’d like to sincerely apologize for that. My internet was acting up, so u didn’t realize until now and then promptly deleted the other three copies posted. Anyways, this is the first part to my zombie au and I’m so excited to continue it! First time I’ve ever done something that’s not high school-ish, so  
> I’m excited to see how it goes. Hope you guys enjoyed this first part!(:


	2. Death Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance despise one another, Pidge bonds with both of them, and Shiro makes a decision that will most likely kill them.

"Keith?" 

The mentioned raven haired boy stopped staring out the window and turned his attention to the soft voice that had called out to him, his tense expression relaxing into something more natural. A kind smile took over his frown, his eyes softening.

"Hey, Pidge," he said gently, sliding over so that she could sit on the small couch with him beside the window, overlooking from afar what remained of the city that had once been bustling with life. 

Pidge sat down right next to him, placing her elbows on her knees and dropping her chin onto the palms of her hands, her expression gloomy.

Keith's smile slipped. "Are you–"

"I'm fine," Pidge replied quickly, desperately trying to make her voice sound much happier than she was. "Why the question?"

"I know that sad face," Keith said, his lips pursed. "You always get that look when you're thinking about something that you shouldn't be thinking of."

"No I don't," Pidge replied stubbornly, looking away from him. "You've forgotten everything about me ever since you moved to the city."

"But have I really?" Keith asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"Pidge, I wouldn't be able to forget you even if I tried. I grew up with you as my neighbor, and I don't think I'd be able to forget your sad face since it was what you looked like for a long time after what happened to your dad, Matt, and Shiro."

Pidge emitted a small sigh. "You don't give up, do you?" She asked, turning her gaze back to the boy beside her.

"No," Keith replied, a soft smile etched onto his features.

Pidge chuckled softly. "Yeah, well, you should, because you're a real pain in the ass. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Keith said cheekily, sending her a wink.

Lance glanced back at the laughing duo, his lips in a straight line and his eyes slightly narrowed. Pressing a washcloth firmly onto Shiro's head, who was slowly starting to wake up, he grunted in annoyance under his breath.

"Stupid Keith."

Hunk looked up from his position on the chair that was beside the only bed in the room, glancing at Shiro before training his eyes on Lance.

"What about him?"

Lance scowled. "He's all over Pidge as if she were his girlfriend or something," he said in annoyance. "I mean, just look at them! They're probably planning a romantic getaway right under our very noses. They probably hooked up in the bathroom without us even knowing!"

Hunk wrinkled his nose. "Lance, buddy, I'm pretty sure Pidge is just all over him because she thought that everybody she knew was dead. Besides," he said sarcastically, "it's totally not like they were best friends and neighbors, you know."

"Ha ha, very funny," Lance shot back in an annoyed tone. "Look, I'm just saying that maybe we shouldn't trust this guy. I say we take Pidge and leave tonight, you know, go back to the original plan. The way he's looking at Pidge is giving me the creeps."

"He's her best friend!" Hunk said in disbelief, eyes widening. "If you found someone you cared about, I'm ninety nine percent sure that you'd be acting like he is. Just let them be happy, man. Stop being so jealous."

"I'm not–!"

"You are," Hunk flared back, quirking a brow. "Seriously, did you not expect them to be like this after what happened at the Garrison a few hours ago?"

Lance gagged. "Don't remind me," he said in disgust. "They had that typical emotional reunion that you see in cliche movies."

* * *

_"Keith!"_

_"It's a walker!" Lance screeched, grabbing his gun off the table and aiming it at the person that had tackled Keith, suddenly snapping to action as adrenaline coursed through his veins._

_"No, it's Pidge!" Hunk yelled, stumbling forward and snatching Lance's gun out of his hand._

_"Pidge?" Keith asked in disbelief, quickly looking down at his assailant. Eyes widening, he peeled the girl off his body, his breathing suddenly quickening and his eyes widening even more as purple orbs met amber eyes._

_"Keith," she said softly, her lips trembling as she flashed him a large smile. "Oh, Keith! You're alive!"_

_"Pidge!" Keith said, his expression softening and his brows shooting up in disbelief. "I can't believe you're here! You're...you're alive!"_

_Quickly picking her up, he embraced her in a tight hug. Pidge returned the action and wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing tears to flow down her cheeks as she burrowed her face deeper into his neck, desperately holding on._

_She never wanted to ever let go of him again._

* * *

"It was a normal reaction, if you ask me," Hunk said with a shrug. "Like I said, you think it's weird, but you'd do the exact same thing if you found out that someone you cared about was still alive."

"I just think that we shouldn't let Pidge around him, that's all," Lance retorted, pressing down more firmly on Shiro's forehead. "Give the girl space, you know what I mean?"

"Since when do you care about girls and personal space?" Hunk asked incredulously, a chuckle escaping his lips. "You've never done that, and I should know because I went through high school with you when you hit on every girl in our grade."

"You're making me sound like some kind of creep!" Lance whined. 

"No offense dude, but the way you hit on every girl you meet is creepy. Now it'd just be creepy if you hit on every girl because, well, half of them are dead," Hunk replied, scratching the back of his neck. Looking down at Shiro, he frowned. "You should also uh, probably stop drenching Shiro's head in water. His hair's getting all wet."

"I know what I'm doing, Hunk," Lance said sullenly, pulling the washcloth away from Shiro. "I treated my nieces and nephews when they were sick, and I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. I don't need anyone babying me as if I didn't know what I was doing."

"I know you aren't a baby, but you're taking out your frustration on Shiro and it's not helping."

Lance growled before throwing the washcloth down on the bed next to Shiro's head, attracting both Keith and Pidge's attention. 

"You know what? You can take care of Shiro since you think I'm doing such a bad job at it. I'm..." He glanced over to side to see Pidge sending him a concerned look, making him furiously shake his head. 

"I'm out of here!" 

He stormed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly even through his rage. Sure he was mad, but causing a bunch of zombies to find out where they were hiding –even if Keith had taken out all of the ones in this small two story house on the outskirts of the city– was _not_ on his agenda for tonight. 

"Lance?" Pidge's voice called out from the other side of the door, her tone laced with confusion.

"Go away," he called out grouchily, sitting on the ground against the door. "I'm going to pee and you are not giving me the privacy I need!"

"You just slammed down a towel on the bed and stormed into the bathroom like a girl who just got told she can't see her boyfriend," Keith's voice called out, the boy clearly irritated. "You can't run away from your problems."

"Says the dropout," Lance shot back in bitter resentment, smirking as he heard Keith growl on the other side of the door. 

"What is your problem with me? I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Uh yeah, you did do one thing wrong," Lance said, rolling his eyes. 

"Oh really? Then tell me what I did wrong."

"You existed." 

Keith growled. "Why you little piece of–"

"Besa mi culo, puto!" Lance flared back, chuckling lowly. 

"I am not–!"

"Will you two shut up?!" Pidge shouted, Lance smirking as he glanced back at the door. 

"He's telling me to kiss his ass, Pidge! I am not going to let someone just stand around and tell me to do something like that! I have dignity, something this asshole clearly doesn't have," Keith said in disdain, glaring bitterly at the door that separated him from Lance. 

"You are being so immature, Keith. We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you two are arguing over fucking vulgar language?!" She asked in disbelief. "You two need to grow the fuck up before one of you dies when you can't figure out how to work together to stay alive!"

Lance snorted. "Pidge, if anyone is going to die, it's going to be Keith over there. He's the one using knives instead of guns."

"At least I know how to use both, unlike your sorry ass that probably can't even handle a knife while I own a fucking katana," Keith replied, his tone smug and proud. 

"Okay we get it! You two are very pretty fucking annoying boys who can use weapons. Big deal! You're still going to fucking die if you don't get your heads out of your asses and be nice to one another," Pidge snapped.

"As if I'd ever want to work with Keith," Lance replied, wrinkling his nose. "I wouldn't even take a step outside of this place with him."

"That seems to be the only thing we can agree on," Keith shot back bitterly.

"When one of you dies in the middle of a battle that's going to be your own fucking fault," Pidge hissed, poking Keith in the chest harshly.

Keith's eyes widened, the boy taken aback. "Wait, now you're mad at _me?_ What did I do?!"

"I can understand why Lance is acting like this because he acts like a child ninety nine percent of the time–"

"Hey!" Lance called out, audibly offended. 

"–but you're Keith and you're supposed to be the mature one! What would Shiro say?"

"He would tell you to stop being so loud," a voice called out from behind her.

Pidge and Keith whipped their heads around to face Shiro, who was sitting upright in bed with Hunk supporting him. Lance cracked the bathroom door open, ignoring Keith's scathing glare, and instead focused on Shiro.

"You...you're awake!" Keith whispered in utter disbelief, deciding to pay attention to Shiro instead of Lance. 

Quickly rushing to his side, he leaned down close, eyes wide with concern. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright," Shiro said slowly, rubbing his head with with left hand. "Just...kind of dizzy."

"That's to be expected," Pidge said, crossing her arms across her chest. "You were kind of knocked out by those guys back at the Garrison."

"Who were they, anyways? They mentioned a prisoner. Was it you? And why do you have a fake arm??" Hunk said, his curiosity piqued. 

"Hey," Keith said in a warning tone, only to be cut off by Shiro.

"No no, it's fine." Taking a deep breath, Shiro looked up at the four standing in front of him, Lance in the back of the group, hesitantly meeting Shiro's gaze and waving an awkward hand. 

"Those men who had me drugged me said they were from Garrison because they had worked there before," Shiro said, flexing his fingers out in front of him. "They don't really work for the Garrison, but they pretend to be help when in reality, they're just monsters."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked, his brows slightly pinched together. "How are they monsters?"

"They take survivors and make them fight the zombies, supposedly to see if anyone is immune, but it's all a lie," Shiro growled. "They just look for any excuse to make survivors fight for their lives in zombie infested buildings, taking pleasure in watching them turn into the monsters and in giving them prosthetics that they think will make the fight more interesting. They aren't trying to help anyone."

Hunk's eyes widened. "Woah."

Keith frowned. "That's insane. Why would they do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Pidge scoffed. "They're animals, Keith. Shiro is right in calling them monsters if they're forcing people to fight until they die. I mean, they even gave Shiro a fake arm! The real question here is, why are they doing it?"

Shiro crossed his arms across his chest, a stoic expression etched onto his features. "They called themselves 'The Galra,' and mentioned another organization- or was it medical facility? I'm sorry," Shiro apologized, "my memory isn't so good."

"How did you escape?" Keith asked softly, brows creased in concern. "The Garrison said you were dead after you never came back from your mission."

"Well, now we have living proof that the Garrison is full of lying bastards," Pidge replied, her tone hard. 

"A medical facility?" Lance questioned, quirking a brow. "Do you remember the name or just anything that the Galra might have mentioned?"

Shiro frowned. "No. My memory is pretty spotty right now, and I can't remember much. I don't even remember how I escaped," he confessed. "All I remember was being knocked out and suddenly I was at the Garrison. Although...I do remember them mentioning something called Voltron, but I don't know what that is."

Hunk arched a brow. "Wait. Are you supposed to find it?"

"I'm not sure. But I think it's what they call an organization."

"Do you know what it is?" Hunk asked. 

"Obviously not," Keith retorted defensively. "Look, whatever's going on, we'll deal with it later or tomorrow. For now, Shiro needs to rest. I'll keep first guard."

"Nope, no no no you don't," Lance replied, walking up towards Keith and poking him in the chest with a finger. "I'm keeping first guard tonight. I don't need you messing up and having us all be killed because you accidentally fall asleep."

Keith scoffed. "Really? Look who's talking about being irresponsible," he said, looking at Lance expectantly. "No, I'm taking first watch."

"No, I will!" Lance argued. 

Hunk leaned over towards Pidge, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I never thought I'd see the day Lance would actually fight to keep first watch. Do you think he just wants to impress Shiro?"

Pidge shrugged. "Probably. Who knows? It's Lance. I've only known him for a while but I've learned that he's just weird."

"Hm. Good point."

"Guys," Shiro called out tiredly, successfully shutting up the bickering duo, "if you keep arguing over who keeps first watch then you might as well just do it together."

"I am not working with him," Lance said snootily, glaring at Keith. 

"Oh, I assure you that the feeling is mutual," Keith retorted, glaring back at the Cuban boy.

"If you two don't stop arguing I will personally kick you out and have you live together for a week until you can get along," Pidge hissed. 

"We'd rather die," Lance replied. 

"Finally, one thing we can agree on," Keith said, glaring at Lance.

"Alright, that's enough you two," Shiro said sternly. "Keith is going to take first watch and Lance will take second."

"Actually, the sun is going to rise in about four hours," Hunk interrupted, raising a hand. "We really only need one person to keep watch tonight."

"Fine. Lance can go–"

"Aw," Lance said, quirking a brow, "is Keith afraid that he's going to get us all killed?" He mocked, cocking his head to the side and looking Keith in his eyes.

Keith scowled. "That is not the reason why I'm letting you take first watch, asshole. I'm staying inside with Shiro and Pidge because we need to make a plan to get out of here."

Pidge coughed into her fist, attracting Keith's attention. He quirked a brow, looking on in confusion while she just looked at him over the rim of her glasses, her head moving from side to side in a disapproving manner.

"What?" He asked.

He only received another head shake in return, with Hunk accompanying her and mimicking her actions.

Lance rolled his eyes, picking his gun off of a chair where he had kept it. He smirked as he heard Keith groan behind him, putting a hand on his hip while he held his gun in his other hand. 

"Got a problem with my ways of keeping your sorry ass alive?"

"Lance, just shut up for once," Pidge said exasperatedly. "Focus on trying to stay up and not getting us all killed in our sleep."

"I highly doubt that any of us are going to sleep, though," Hunk said, a hint of fear in his tone. "I mean, some of those zombies could have followed us back from Garrison for all we know. What if they find us before sunrise? Oh man," he said, beginning to panic, "we never should've left that house we were in. We just made ourselves live bait!"

"Hunk!" Keith called out frustratedly. "Stop being so paranoid over one small thing. We won't stay here much longer, anyways, assuming that we make a good enough plan to follow."

"Well while you guys do that boring stuff, I'm going to go watch an empty landscape for the next four hours because there's no way any zombies are going to show up. If you need me, I'll be on the roof," Lance said in a bored tone, waving at Hunk before turning on his heels and walking out of the room.

Keith only pursed his lips, his brows creasing together. "Has the guy still not grown out of his asshole phase or what?"

"Keith," Shiro called out sternly, looking at the younger boy with a frown. 

"Sorry. So, really, what's the plan?" Keith asked, only to be met with blank stares from everyone who still remained in the room. 

"Oh boy."

* * *

Lance hummed to himself as he looked up at the stars in the sky, sprawled on his back on the roof, his gun to the side but still close in case he really needed to protect himself. He didn't think he'd have to use it, though. Unlike their previous shelter, there wasn't a soul to be seen on this road, either dead or alive. It was peaceful on the outskirts of the city, which itself was full of thousands of the dead freaks.

He emitted a small sigh, letting the wind blow against his face as he continued to stargaze. It amazed him how the sky never changed. He felt as if he was back home in Cuba, laying on the beach as night came, the stars illuminating the waves that glistened under their light. If he closed his eyes now, he could catch the faint smell of the ocean waves. The night sky never changed, even if what was once a beautiful earth was now a war zone.

"You know, I never thought that keeping watch from the top of a roof was a good idea," a voice called out from behind him, soft and teasing.

Lance scoffed. "That's because you've only kept watch once the entire time we've been by ourselves. Hunk and I have been the ones doing the dirty work."

"Oh please," Pidge said, taking a seat next to him on the roof, "you act as if I've been completely useless. We both know that without me, you and Hunk would both be dead by now."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you have to say it out loud," Lance said, a small smile taking over his frown.

Pidge chuckled. "Well, if I don't say it, then who will? A girl has to do something to keep her status up when she's surrounded by four stupid men."

"Hey! I'm not stupid! I'm more like a cool, ninja sharpshooter," Lance said proudly, closing his eyes. "You know who's stupid? Keith."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "This shit again? What do you have against him? He really didn't do anything to you, you know."

"Pidge, you were not in school with Keith so you have no idea of how much of a prick he was. The guy constantly tried to one up me and was such a showoff. He thought he was all high and mighty just because he knew Shiro and would get constant visits from him during class hours. Seriously, he was –and still is– the worst," Lance said in disgust.

"Well, he wasn't like that when we were neighbors," Pidge said, tucking her knees under her chin. "He was actually pretty cool."

Lance scoffed. "Keith? Not being an ass? I think you may have accidentally hit your head with the butt of someone's gun way too many times."

"Hey, I'm serious," Pidge protested, rolling her eyes when Lance only laughed at her. "If there's anyone I know better than my brother, it's Keith. He can be kind of an ass when you first meet him, but you need to give him some time for him to warm up to you. Trust me, once you learn how to not insult him every five seconds, he'll be a pretty great friend or whatever."

Lance snorted. "The day that I don't bully Keith is going to be the day I'm dead, Pidge."

"Ugh. Now we won't have any peace and quiet around here," she groaned. 

Lance grinned. "You can if you come up here with me every day," he said teasingly, turning to face her with a cheeky smile. "We could come up here to, you know...rock out."

"Oh my god," she laughed, putting a hand up to her mouth, "that's not funny, Lance."

"Well, by the way you're laughing, one would think that I am quite funny," he teased, his smile growing when she continued to laugh, this time without her hand covering her mouth.

"If this is your way of trying to ask me to hang out with you more for some "peace and quiet", you're failing miserably with how damn loud you're being," she said, her lips curling up into a smile. 

"I don't know if I would call it failing, Pidge. I mean, you _are_ still here."

"Only because I'm choosing to stay here instead of going back down to watch Keith continue to baby Shiro even though he's a grown man who doesn't need to be babysat," Pidge replied quickly, rolling her eyes.

"You still chose to be up here," he egged on. "If I had to guess, I'd say that maybe you enjoy my presence. It's okay, you don't have to lie. Everyone enjoys my presence," he said, sending her a flirtatious wink.

Pidge giggled. "Whatever lets you sleep better at night, Lance."

Lance grinned. "Good to know that you enjoy my presence. I should definitely hang out around you some more."

"I can just imagine the headaches," Pidge replied, shaking her head. "I'm getting one right now just thinking about you being around me twenty four seven. I see myself regretting having you around me for two hours into our trip tomorrow."

Lance's smile slipped. "Wait, what trip? Did you guys come up with a scavenger trip for us?"

Pidge shook her head. "More like a death sentence, if you ask me. Keith and Shiro want to go into the city to see if we can find more stuff and that medical facility that the Galra –or whatever those guys are called– talked about. Shiro feels like it's too important to just ignore, and Keith with his Shiro adoring ass said yes like an idiot. I think Hunk hasn't stopped crying since he heard the plan."

"I mean, I don't blame him for crying. Shiro is my idol, but walking into a zombie infested city is a death sentence. There's no way that all of us are going to make it out, or that we'll make it out at all!"

"You can thank Keith for making Hunk agree," Pidge replied, pursing her lips. "He told him that he could either stay behind alone to guard the house or that he could join us all in getting more supplies. You can guess why he chose to go with all of us," she said, flinging a stone off the roof with a finger.

Lance frowned. "You forced him to go with us? That's not how a group works, Pidge. Every man –and woman– has to have the liberty to choose what they want to do, not be forced into doing something that makes them uncomfortable!"

"I know, but it's too late to say anything now. Once the sun rises, we're out of here. I came up here to tell you just in case you wanted to, you know," she said uncomfortably, dropping her gaze to her shoes, "leave."

Lance gaped at her, quickly shooting upright into a sitting position. "Wait, you really think I would–"

"Hey hey, whatever you think my reason is for thinking that you might bail, it's wrong," she said roughly, meeting eyes with Lance. "I'm only saying that you might bail because you have a reason to. You have family, like me. You have a reason to stay alive. Keith and Shiro? They have each other, and they'll go ahead with their plans even if we don't agree," Pidge quickly said.

Lance looked down at his hands. "Do you really think we could die by going into the city?"

"It's in the realm of possibilities, Lance. Do you feel comfortable with going on the mission or not? Keith thinks that you'll wimp out–"

"I am many things, but I'm not a coward," Lance said sharply. "Keith can think whatever he wants to think of me, but I'm going on that mission. It'd be cruel for me to abandon you and Hunk when the two of you are the only living people that I know."

Pidge emitted a small sigh. "You are so selfless. You know that, right?"

Lance shrugged. "My mom once said something like that, but I never paid attention to it until we got thrown in the middle of a zombie apocalypse."

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, well, I'm going to try and sleep for whatever time is left until sunrise. Try not to let the zombies in the house, will you?" She joked, flashing him a small smile.

Lance nodded, looking away from her and falling backwards onto the roof. "Sure."

"Goodnight, Lance."

"Goodnight, Pidge."

And with that she was gone, leaving Lance to wonder what the hell he had signed himself up for by agreeing to go on a mission into a city full of zombies.

* * *

"This is the worst idea I've ever heard of. We shouldn't be doing this!" Hunk whisper-shouted, causing his entire group to send him heated glares. 

"Thank you for the commentary, Hunk! It's not like we aren't paranoid enough!" Lance hissed as they walked through the remains of what seemed to be of a run down hospital, if the giant operation chart behind the front desk was any indicator as to where they were. They had been in the city for more than two hours, and Lance was growing increasingly paranoid, along with everyone else in the group, which included Keith. 

"Lance is right," Keith said bitterly, walking beside Pidge. "We know we fucked up by coming into the city, but you don't have to keep saying it every five seconds."

"'It's going to be okay, Hunk.' 'You're going to be fine, Hunk.' 'Don't be a big baby, Hunk'," Hunk mocked as he sent Keith a pointed look. "Yeah no. I told you all yesterday and today in the morning that coming to the city was a bad idea, but does anyone listen to me? No, of course no one does!" He said exasperatedly.

"Okay, we get it!" Pidge snapped. "You were right and we were wrong. There, I said it! Either way, that doesn't change the fact that we have to stay focused on trying to find whatever it was that Shiro was talking about last night. We're already here, so we might as well make our deaths mean something!"

Lance groaned. "Ugh, I hate when you're right."

"You were planning on running away back to the house, weren't you," Pidge deadpanned.

"Maybe."

"I'm sorry that I brought you guys here, but I really do think that looking for the medical facility is our best bet of staying alive," Shiro said, rubbing the back of his neck with his real arm. "If we make allies who have a safe haven, it'd be a better deal than staying in different houses every day. Not that your house wasn't a nice place, Keith," Shiro said, his eyes quickly darting towards Keith.

"Yeah, no offense Keith," Pidge said sarcastically, jabbing him in the ribs. "Hey, do you know where it might be? You mentioned scouting in the city before you found that nice house on the outskirts of town."

Lance quirked a brow. "Wow, city boy didn't leave when everyone else did? Man, and I thought I was stupid!"

"There's a zombie right behind you!" Keith called out, pointing behind the boy, his eyes wide with fear. 

Lance shrieked, quickly turning around, only to be met with air. His brows pinched together as heard chortles of laughter from behind him, Pidge and Keith not bothering to hide their laughter while Hunk only cast him a sympathetic smile. Shiro only emitted a small sigh, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Keith, leave Lance alone. It's not right to joke with someone about zombies when we're all fighting to stay alive."

"Whatever. That was hilarious!" He said, laughing. "I should definitely do that again in the future."

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't," Lance said snootily, glaring at Keith. "How would you react if someone looked behind you in terror while shouting that there's a zombie behind you?"

"I'd throw a knife in the freak's head before the person stopped talking," Keith replied in a heartbeat. "Not shoot it, because I'd just attract attention to myself, which is clearly why you have a gun."

"Excuse me?"

"You're still vying for attention, even if it's from the dead," Keith replied, shrugging. "Nothing has changed since high school."

"You little piece of–"

Keith's grin morphed into a scowl, his eyes hardening. "Duck," he demanded.

"What the fuck–"

Without a warning, Keith had flung his knife into a zombie's brain, the low moaning immediately coming to an end as the rotting dead freak fell to the ground, dead. Lance stared at the zombie with wide eyes, his mouth slightly agape while Pidge and Hunk stood there in stunned silence.

"Dude," Pidge whispered, "you didn't even have to look for the right angle to hit the freak in the brain. How...?"

"Practice," Keith simply replied, shooting Lance a small look. 

"You should really consider looking at all your surroundings instead of being a blabbermouth."

"Lance, what do we say?" Hunk drawled out, still staring at Keith in stunned shock.

"Thank you," Lance mumbled, his face hardening. He frowned, looking at Keith with creased brows. "Wait, if there's one dead freak out here, then..."

Keith's eyes widened in sudden realization. "He's a scout," he said aloud, quickly looking around as more moans reached the group's ears, the noise coming from down the hallway that led to the only exit. 

"Fuck," Keith said. "We walked right into a fucking zombie trap."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaahhhh!! Teh second part is finally done! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	3. Safe and Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting themselves into a tricky situation, the team is saved by two other survivors who have some very interesting news and an even more alluring offer for them.

"Shit," Pidge hissed, drawing her blade up in front of her chest protectively.

"I'm too young to die!" Hunk cried, whimpering. "I knew I should've stayed home. Hell, all of us should've stayed home!"

"You're not helping," Pidge retorted angrily, her hand slightly trembling as the group heard the moans grow increasingly louder, alerting them that there was probably more than ten in the advancing group.

"Shiro, what do we do?" Keith asked, drawing his own knife in front of him protectively, ready to pull out his katana from behind his back.

"We need to get out of their sight, and fast!" Shiro yelled in a hushed voice, quickly scouring their surroundings with his eyes. Spotting a janitorial closet door slightly ajar, he quickly motioned for them to get in.

"There's no way–" Pidge began to protest, only to be cut off by Lance grabbing onto her wrist, dragging her into the closet with the group.

"There's no time for this!" Lance snapped, pushing her in and slamming the door shut behind him. The last thing he saw was a zombie lock eyes with him, dead orbs meeting his blue eyes. He watched her lurch towards the door, groaning, desperately trying to claw her way into the closet.

"We're going to die," Hunk moaned, pressing his hands against his face as the banging on the door grew louder. "We're going to die all because we were looking for an imaginary shelter!"

"If you had stayed 'home' you would've had to protect the house by yourself, making you an easier target," Keith shot back, his tone biting and bitter. "Is this a fucked up situation? Yes, it is, but all we can do is make a plan before we spend the rest of our lives rotting in a closet."

"That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth," Pidge muttered bitterly, resting her head against what she assumed was a broom.

"Keith is right. That door isn't going to hold on forever. We have to make a plan before we're forced to fight off this horde with our bare hands," Shiro said, running a hand through his hair as he stared intently at the door, which was still being banged on by the zombies.

"And how do we do that?" Lance asked, his eyes wide with fear. "There's nowhere for us to go, Shiro. We're stuck in a closet, for crying out loud! Last time I checked, hospital closets don't have freaking trap doors that magically help you escape!"

"Maybe regular hospitals don't," Keith said, brows furrowed, "but this isn't a regular hospital."

"What?"

"When I was hopping around in the city way before zombies even existed here, this was known as the New Altea Medical Facility, built on the ground of the old Altea Hospital that burned down after a strange accident years ago. It was a popular place for those who wanted the best medical care, and there were rumors that it was secretly a castle of some sorts."

"Not that your story isn't interesting, but what does that have to do with trap doors?" Hunk asked, arching a brow in confusion.

"I wasn't done yet," Keith spat, his tone harsher than he had meant for it so sound. "The old Altea Hospital was, well, old, and old buildings always tend to have secret passageways. If they rebuilt the hospital after it burned down to ground, then..."

"There might be secret passageways that can save us!" Lance gasped, finishing Keith's sentence. "Holy shit!"

"That...actually makes sense," Pidge said, putting a finger up to her chin. "Old places always have some kind of secret passageways that lead to something that people don't want to be found."

"Do you think it might have something to do with that 'Voltron' thing you mentioned yesterday?" Hunk asked, looking at Shiro.

"I don't know about that, but what I do know is that if there's a secret passageway that can get us out of here, we'd better find it fast. The door won't hold for much longer," he urged, pressing the palms of his hands against the floor.

"Search every inch of the closet for any sort of bump or something that could be a trap door! This might be the only way for us to get out of here without facing a horde of zombies," Shiro said, his tone calm yet somewhat frantic.

Lance and Hunk immediately started feeling the walls of the closet, Keith and Pidge searching the ground with Shiro. They couldn't tell what exactly they were doing since they were stuck in pitch black darkness, and they were all slowly starting to panic as they came up empty handed.

"Anything?" Shiro called out, desperately hoping that someone had found a way out.

His ears, to his disappointment, were met with a chorus of "no's".

"Damn it," Keith muttered under his breath, frantically looking around and reaching out in front of him, desperately trying to find anything. He felt soft skin under his hands, yelping as he jumped back. He quickly drew his knife and held it out in front of him protectively, hand ready to throw at a moment's notice.

"Zombie!"

"Dude!" Lance hissed, swatting out on front of him in annoyance. "It's just me!"

"Did anyone search the ceiling?" Pidge asked, quickly glancing between the door and the back of the closet.

"I can't reach," Keith replied, crossing his arms across his chest. "And you can't either because you're–"

"Finish that sentence and I'm feeding you to the zombies," she hissed, poking him in the chest.

"Just touch the ceiling with the broom or something!" Hunk yelled, grabbing said broom. He rapidly started poking the ceiling, grunting in annoyance as he felt nothing.

"We need someone to physically feel for it," Lance said, putting a hand on his hip. "Pidge, you're climbing up on my shoulders."

"What the fuck–Lance, no!" She screeched as she felt Lance hoist her up onto his shoulders, scowling as she desperately held onto his face in an effort to not fall off.

"Lance, I'm going to kill you!"

"You can do that later!" He said, waving her off. "Just try to feel around for anything that might seem like a trap door. We have one last shot at finding a way out without possibly dying!"

Pidge grunted before reaching her hands up, touching the ceiling with the tips of her fingers. She quickly scoured the area, telling Lance to move around, which he did despite the fact that he was on the brink of collapsing from the stress of holding her up. To Pidge's horror, she found...nothing.

"Guys–"

"No," Lance murmured in disbelief. "No, there has to be a way out! I can't die here! I haven't even said goodbye to my family...I have too much to live for! We can't just die here!"

Pidge's heart clenched. There was truth in his words, the words hitting too close to home without Lance even knowing. He was right. She would be a fool to give up this early into the game.

"Lance, move me towards the front towards the door."

"But you said–"

"Move!" She hissed, grabbing onto him tightly as he led her to the front. She could feel him trembling in fear as they heard the pounding grow louder, Keith pulling out his knife again from behind them as he walked alongside the two.

 _Please, let me be right_. Pidge quickly pressed her hands along the ceiling on top the door, closing her eyes as she tried to concentrate.

A gasp escaped her lips as she felt a small break in the the ceiling tiles, followed by some old and rusty hinges.

"I found it!"

"Oh thank God!" Lance breathed out, bringing Pidge down to the ground. "We need to–"

Before he could finish his sentence, the banging on the door suddenly stopped. Keith and Shiro both quickly moved towards either side of the door, weapons in hand. Lance quickly pulled Hunk and Pidge back quickly before drawing his rifle, aiming it at the middle of the door, as if waiting for the zombies to bust down the store. The sudden silence felt too unnatural, the only thing they could hear being the low growls of the zombies on the other side of the door.

Then the screeches started, followed by the sound of feet running rapidly across the floor of the hospital.

Hunk's eyes widened, his heartbeat quickening. "No, no, no. That cannot be good!"

"Wait!" Lance called out, lowering his rifle as he strained his ear against the door.

"What?" Keith asked incredulously, slightly lowering his knife.

"There's people!"

"You're crazy," Pidge replied, eyeing him incredulously. "There is not–"

"I'm serious!" Lance said harshly, gripping his rifle tightly. "Listen!"

Muffled voices could be heard as the group pressed their ears against the door, the screeches of the zombies making it hard to discern what was a human voice and what was a zombie. The group was only able to hear a few words, a man and woman yelling orders at each other.

"Set the trap in the front of the hospital!"

"Of course, Princess!"

"We need to do anything to save those alive in here. Once the trap is set, I'll lure all of the dead outside, understood?!"

"Yes, Princess!"

"They're trying to lure the zombies away from us! We've got to help," Lance said in realization, reaching out for the door.

"Are you crazy?!" Keith hissed, grabbing Lance's outstretched hand.

"I'm not, but you are if you're going to let the people who are trying to help you turn into those freaks," Lance said, yanking his hand out of Keith's grip. "I'm going to help, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Lance," Pidge started, only to be cut off by his growl.

"I'm going to help whoever is out there. If it were any of you, I would do the exact same thing."

Shiro frowned. "You aren't going out there..."

Keith nodded. "Thank you–"

"...without a plan and backup," Shiro finished, brows furrowing slightly, his lips curled up in a barely noticeable smirk.

Lance let out a small gasp. "What?"

"We're going to help, but we need to come up with a quick plan. Lance and I will lead–"

Before he could finish his sentence, Shiro was cut off by the sound of a woman's frantic voice on the other side of the door, followed by screeches from an older male's voice.

"If there are any survivors in here, we're going to need you to take direct bomb cover now!" She frantically urged, her tone panicked yet demanding. The group, too stunned to speak, only stared at the door as they heard her run further into the hospital, someone else following her.

"What?" The entire group screeched, only to be met with the rapid stampede of a horde of zombies running through the hospital corridors, clawing and screeching as they ran past the closet. It wasn't until the group realized that the woman was banging rapidly against something outside that they realized why she had told them to take cover.

"Did they just say that they're setting off a bomb?!" Lance frantically screeched, grabbing onto Keith's shoulders with panic in his tone.

"Duck in the back!" Pidge yelled, flinging herself against the back of the closet. The test of the team followed after her, throwing themselves firmly against the fall, squishing the poor girl in the process.

As she was opening her mouth to protest, there was the telltale sound of an explosion. The group screamed in fear as they felt the walls around them shake, Keith cowering more over Pidge in an attempt to cover her should the roof collapse on them. The ground shook, and the dying screeches of the zombies filled the air from the outside of the hospital.

Once the rumbling stopped, the group slowly opened their eyes, coughing from the sudden spread of dust from the rundown hospital. Lance quickly motioned towards the door, Shiro following his movements.

"Time to move out. Keith and Lance, you're our main protection. Take out any of the remaining zombies out there."

The two boys promptly nodded, Lance bringing his rifle up and Keith drawing his katana from its position on his back. Shiro quickly placed Pidge and Hunk in the middle, he himself standing right in front of the door.

"Okay, on the count of three. One, two...three!"

Shiro quickly pushed the door open, Pidge and Hunk following after him, Lance and Keith quickly bringing out their weapons in front of them. They began to scour the area for any zombies, only to notice that the front doors that had been opened were now firmly shut. All that was left of the previous horde of zombies that had polluted the halls of the hospital was the telltale stench of rotting flesh.

"That's weird," Pidge said thoughtfully, frowning.

"Shiro?" Keith hesitantly called out, he and Lance staring in the same direction with their weapons drawn.

"What?" Shiro asked, turning around to face the boys. However, before he could find Keith's face, he looked at the figures that were quickly walking towards them.

"Who are you?" He called out, furrowing his brows.

The two figures, one male and one female, stood in front of them. Each sported a stoic expression, the female moreso. She furrowed her brows slightly, clenching her fists tightly at her sides as she stared the others down.

"I am Allura," she said, locking eyes with Shiro. "And this is Coran. We are the ones who saved you from your...dilemma," she finished, glancing at the supply closet that they had been trapped in a few moments ago.

Lance blinked. "Wait, you're telling me that you took out all the zombies?"

She smiled sadly. "Not all of them, but we managed to lure a majority of them out into the open into our trap using a car alarm."

Lance quirked a brow, lips curling into a smirk. He lowered his rifle, sauntering towards Allura with a flirtatious smile.

"Wow, you did all that, huh? Sounds like you're one of a kind. I like women who are one of a kind," he said in a low voice, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he leaned in closer into her personal space.

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance, proceeding to pinch his ear and pushing him in Shiro's direction. "Do you mind?"

"Ow!"

Pidge and Keith shot him disapproving looks, Lance pouting as he looked back at his white haired savior.

Shiro let out a small sigh. "Forgive him, he doesn't quite know how to act around women, it seems."

"Hey!" Lance yelled in dismay.

Allura scoffed. "I can see that clear as day." She shook her head before turning her attention back to Shiro, blue eyes locking with brown once more. She flashed him a smile. "No matter that. I am glad that you are all out of that closet, though. I can't imagine how you would've survived in there for more than a day."

Pidge frowned. "Uh, yeah, about that? I have a question," she said, stepping forward to stand next to Keith. "Why bother saving us if you don't even know who we are?"

Allura furrowed a brow. "What?"

"Pidge, you're great and all, but should we really be questioning why she saved us when we should be celebrating that we won't be forced to live in a closet until the zombies come to eat us?" Hunk asked, gaze flickering between Allura and Pidge. "I mean, I don't know, man. It sounds kinda rude asking her why she saved us."

"I just wanted to know," Pidge said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

Keith frowned. "Yeah, I'm curious too," he said, backing Pidge up.

Allura let out a small sigh. "We saved you because that's what we do. We help save people, regardless if we know them or not. If it means one less Galra to fight, then we'll do anything to save people...even if it means sacrificing our own lives."

Shiro gasped. "Galra? I've heard of them before!"

Allura frowned. "Of course you have. That's what we call these half dead jerks that roam the city."

"No, I mean that I've heard about the actual Galra, the ones who have been turning innocent people into zombies."

Allura emitted a small gasp. "What?" She asked, disbelief evident in her tone. "How? Everyone just assumes that the virus just came to be by itself, not that it was created!"

"Wait, the virus was created?" Hunk asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. "As in, on purpose?"

"Y–"

"Well, that is a valid question, my boy," Coran spoke up, leaning forward, "but it's not something that we can talk about freely. If we're going to talk about it, it has to be somewhere confidential before we go over all the err....details," he said, glancing at Allura.

The woman only nodded.

"Coran is right. If we're going to talk about it, it has to be done somewhere more safe."

"In case you haven't noticed, there are half dead freaks out there that want to eat human flesh. There is no such thing as safe out here," Keith said bitterly.

"We know a place that should be relatively safe," Allura piped up, choosing to ignore Keith's bitterness. "It's a few miles out in the middle of nowhere, and it's hidden well enough to protect us anything. We'll be safe there, for the time being."

Hunk groaned. "Please don't tell me that it means we have to walk for hours because I do not want to be out there when night comes."

Coran shook his head. "Fear not, boy. We'll get you there in style and within an hour if Allura lets me drive instead of telling me that I need to rest my old bones," he said, peeking over at Allura.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, excuse me for caring about you, Coran." Despite her being clearly annoyed with him, it was hard to miss the fondness in her eyes when she looked at the old man.

Turning to the group in front of her. "You're more than welcome to come with us if you want a full explanation..." She trailed up, biting her bottom lip as she looked at Shiro unsurely. "That is, unless you have somewhere to be? Another base?"

Keith opened his mouth, only to be stopped by Lance covering his mouth with his hand.

"We had a base, but it got taken over," Lance lied, staring at Allura. "By zombies...in the middle of the night..."

Allura arched an unimpressed brow. "My condolences," she said flatly, seeing right through his lie.

"That's greatly appreciated, princess," he said, flashing her finger guns.

Pidge gagged. "Lance, stop flirting with her, it's disgusting."

"Agreed," Keith said, nodding.

Shiro groaned. "Alright, enough. We'll be leaving with Allura and Coran for their base, and once daylight comes we'll continue looking for whatever it is that we were searching for."

"Yeah, a medical facility that we found," Hunk deadpanned. "Shouldn't we look around for clues here before leaving?"

Allura cleared her throat. "I hope I'm not intruding, but what are you looking for? Perhaps I could help quicken the search so we can leave faster," she said, flashing the group a right smile. It was clear as day that she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, and that the group was only making it harder for her to remain calm.

"I really don't think you could help us out here unless you know what the heck a Voltron is," Shiro said wryly, casting Allura a small dry smile.

Allura's small smile quickly vanished, and her eyes began to dart between the team in front of her and Coran. She bit her bottom lip, gripping onto her bow a little more tighter than necessary. 

"I..."

Keith furrowed his brows in realization. "You know what it is, don't you?"

Allura shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Well..."

"This isn't the time or place to be speaking about something as big as this, even if all our prying eyes are only the undead," Coran said, placing a comforting hand on Allura's shoulder. "We can talk about this once we're at our secure base."

"Alright," Shiro said, his voice wavering somewhat with uncertainty. "Alright, we'll go with you to your base. Just for tonight, right guys?"

He turned to face his team, the teens only shrugging with uncertainty and their faces weary.

Allura let out a genuine smile. "Excellent! Follow us," she said as she began walking towards the sealed off entrance of the hospital with caution. Shiro, Coran, and the rest of the team followed after her, their own weapons held in front of them defensively.

"Are we really doing this?" Keith asked Shiro, eyes darting between Allura's back and his team behind him. "No offense, but why are we taking her word and following after her as if she were some kind of queen? We don't even know her!"

"You're right," Lance interjected, shooting Keith an unimpressed look, "but that's all we can do for now. Out here, we're just trying to survive, like Pidge says. Right Pidge?"

"Fuck off and concentrate on making sure we get to the van alive," she hissed, much to Keith's amusement.

"Awww," Lance said with a small tsk, "is little Pidge jealous that I'm not flirting with her?"

"Why on earth–"

“Don't worry," he said, winking, "you're still the only girl for me."

Keith rolled his eyes. "She's going to feed you to the zombies if you keep talking, you know."

Lance rolled his eyes. "If she hasn't fed you to the half dead creeps then I think I'll be okay."

Keith narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lance asked, emitting a small snort. "If Pidge can handle you for however long she's had to put up with your ugly face, then I think she can handle me teasing her."

"Maybe she can, but I won't hesitate to throw you into a crowd of zombies," Keith bit back bitterly. "Watch your tongue, Lance. One day you're going to die because you can't shut your mouth."

"Okay, we went from Lance innocently teasing Pidge to Keith making death threats. Am I missing something?" Hunk asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

Pidge only rolled her eyes. "Men are idiots," she simply said, looking at Hunk. "Especially these two."

"Hey!" Both Lance and Keith said at the same time, casting her offended looks.

" _Guys_ ," Shiro said wearily. "Can we _try_ to make it to the safe base without any of you strangling each other?"

Pidge snorted. "You don't have to tell me twice. Tell that to Lance and Keith. You know, for two people that hate each other, you actually act awfully similar to one another."

"I refuse to believe that," Keith replied, watching Allura carefully as she motioned towards the door.

"As much as I'd love to continue to hear your... _lovely_ bickering, I suggest that we actually get a move on and make it out of the city before we attract an even larger horde," Allura said, flashing the team a tight smile.

Shiro shot her a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Allura blinked, a small genuine smile taking over her features. She only nodded before turning back towards the door. With a push, the door gave, removing the barrier between the inside of the building and the outside of the city.

Coran quickly motioned for the team to follow him as they ran out of the hospital, weaving between the apartment complexes that surrounded it. The city was eerily quiet, and during their five minute run towards when Coran and Allura had left their van, they hadn't seen a single zombie. It was unsettling, to say the least.

Once the team piled into the van, Coran wordlessly stepped into the driver's seat and started up the engine. Within a minute, the group was moving, leaving the way too quiet city behind.

* * *

Needless to say, the ride back towards Allura and Coran's safe base was...uneventful. It was mostly quiet, except for the occasional "fuck off" from either Lance or Keith when they came into the slightest bit of contact.

Hunk and Pidge had fallen asleep a while back, leaning on each other in the back seat. During the hour ride back to Allura and Coran's camp, Shiro had decided to change his spot from next to the window to in between Keith and Lance. The two had only proceeded to pout and look out the window, although Shiro caught them sending each other a scathing look more than once.

It'd be a miracle if those two ever learned how to get along.

An hour after they left the city, they finally made it to the base camp. Needless to say, Shiro's first reaction could be as comical. What he had expected at most was a few houses surrounded by barbed wire, nothing too fancy. However, this "base" that they were driving into was nothing that he had expected during the drive here.

The base in question was surrounded by large concrete walls, soldiers perched at the top in lookout towers, rifles held tight in their hands. The large gates were slowly opened by soldiers on the other side, revealing what Shiro could only describe as a gated community. There were small houses strewn about the place, people going about their daily lives while children laughed and ran about freely, as if there wasn't any imminent danger awaiting them outside the walls.

From inside the van, Keith and Lance quickly abandoned sending each other scowls in exchange of quickly sticking their heads out of the windows, gaping at the people roaming around and at the buildings.

"Holy shit," Keith breathed out, quickly stretching a hand out behind him to swat at Pidge. "Pidge, wake up!"

"Eh?" She mumbled sleepily, looking around drowsily. "Are we there yet?" Her eyes blew open quickly as soon as she realized that they were, in fact, at the base camp.

She gasped, quickly shaking Hunk's shoulders. "Hunk! Look!"

"What?" He asked sleepily, only to let out a loud gasp as she twisted his head to look out the window. "No way!"

Allura and Coran exchanged knowing smiles, the woman turning around to face the group.

"We did say we were going to base camp, did we not?"

"I didn't realize that you meant an actual base camp with actual soldiers," Shiro replied, mouth still agape.

"If I'm going to be honest, I was expecting something more...raw, I guess?" Lance said, turning to face Allura with a sheepish smile.

"Oh, so you don't like it," Allura teased, looking at her nails. "I understand. It isn't exactly the White House, afterall."

"Are you kidding me?!" Hunk yelled from the back seat, a huge smile adorning his face. "This place is already amazing, and we haven't even stepped out of the car! The fact that it has actual concrete walls and real soldiers in the lookout towers already makes me so happy."

"Agreed," Lance said, sighing and smiling happily as he allowed himself to take in the fresh air. "I think this is the first time I've been able to breathe freely without smelling the stench of zombies."

"I haven't felt this safe since I was living with my parents back at home, before the whole zombie fiasco," Pidge said in awe as she watched the people roam around the streets freely. "I missed this," she admitted, a small smile gracing her lips.

Lance looked back at her, flashing her a blinding smile. "I know right?!"

Keith snorted as he brought his head back in from the window, looking at Lance with a quirked brow. "You sound like a TV commercial."

"Oh wow, how original," Lance replied dryly. "You know, sometimes I wonder how you know what a TV is, seeing as how you act like a character right out of the 80's, ugly hair included."

"You do know that the TV was invented way before the 80's, right?" Keith asked, his lips curling up into a smirk.

"Was not," Lance replied, waving a finger in the air. "Right, Hunk?"

"Actually, Keith is right. The TV was invented in the 20's, if I remember correctly," Hunk replied, flashing Lance an apologetic smile. "Sorry buddy. Keith wins this round."

Lance pouted, sending Keith a pointed look. "You win this round, Keith, but next time, I'm going go beat you."

"Beat me at what? The knowledge game?" Keith teased, his smirk growing more.

"Yes!"

Keith snorted, face full of amusement. "Yeah, sure. I'll look forward to it, Lance."

The van came to an abrupt stop in front of a large building, Allura letting out a sigh as she looked at Coran wearily after everyone had gotten out of the van.

"Must you always slam on the brakes too hard once we reach the Castle?"

"What can I say? I'm an excellent driver," Coran replied, grinning.

"Castle?" Shiro echoed, his jaw dropping even more.

Allura blinked, turning her attention back to Shiro. A smug smile took over her features as she realized that Shiro wasn't the only one staring at her with their jaws agape, the others mirroring his expresion. Well, everyone except Coran.

"It's not really a Castle, you know," she said, chuckling upon seeing all five deflate. "But we do call it the Castle of Lions because it is the largest building in the camp. It houses the laboratory and is located right next to the military base that houses the tanks and more trucks that are more adequate for long runs."

"That must be some really big lab," Hunk said, raising a brow.

Allura chuckled. "It's not just a lab...Hunk, was it? Yes, it isn't just a lab," she said, motioning for the team to follow her inside. Once they stepped inside, everyone let out a sound of awe.

The front seemed like the entrance to a hospital, with various chairs in what seemed like a waiting room being the first thing visible, soldiers perched at the front entrance. The halls were colored with a bright aqua blue and gold streaks of lights, hospital beds both empty and occupied in the rooms on the first floor.

"The Castle of Lions was built to be the home for the injured and their families, in addition to those who are working with the soldiers in the military base a few streets down. The first floor is mostly made up of the infirmary, with a few laboratories scattered here and there. On the second floor, however..." Allura said, gesturing out of the see through window of the elevator.

"That's where most of the labs are, aren't they?" Pidge asked, watching as they rose through the middle of the floor, watching various people in whitecoats wave at them despite having large stacks of paper in their hands.

"Yes. Good observation," Allura praised. "On the third floor, there is the common area, as we like to call it. When people aren't in their rooms or wandering outside, they take pleasure relaxing in this area. We have various couches with large TV's for anyone to relax in."

"Doesn't it get crowded like that?" Lance asked, quirking a brow as they passed the third floor.

"Not really," Coran replied, smiling. "We don't have many people who have family members in the infirmary, or many who decide to stay here despite working in the military. Most who work there either choose to live with their families in other homes, or they simply decided to stay here to escape the memories of deceased family members who didn't make it this far," he said sadly.

Allura patted his back before turning to look at the group, sending them a shaky smile. "We do have many children here at the moment, though, and they bring a lot of joy whenever Coran and I decide to just take a stroll in the common area. Although, the third floor is also home to the kitchen and large dining room."

"Just how many people do you have that live here?" Keith asked as the group stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor.

"Not many, like Coran said. We have a few families here who opted to stay here with their injured family members, and very few soldiers stay here. I think there's only about five soldiers? Although, the wing has been overrun by a large family as of late, and they are one of the largest families in the camp."

Shiro arched a brow. "What's on the fifth floor?"

Allura smiled. "The garden. We grow things outside of the Castle, of course, but we use it to grow plants used in the laboratory, or just random flowers that I take a liking to."

"So there's only five floors, huh," Hunk said, looking around the closed rooms. "This is the largest building here though, right?"

Allura nodded. "We also have a training area in the heart of the third floor, if anyone of you are interested in that," she said a little too casually, eyeing Shiro's muscles, a light blush dusting her features.

Shiro noticed her looking at him, and a blush of his own appeared on his face. Keith only chuckled, poking Shiro in the ribs, the man pointedly ignoring the younger male.

"Are we going to be staying in these rooms?" Pidge asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes," Allura said, flashing her a smile. "The rooms have two beds each, accompanied by a shower. They have enough space for both members of each room to get comfortable–"

"Do we have to share a room?" Lance asked, eyeing Allura nervously. "Can't we all like, get a room to ourselves."

Allura frowned. "Why would you–"

"You know, there is enough space for each of you to get your own room," Coran said, eyeing them thoughtfully. "Although, number five was going to get her own room all to herself, being the only female here."

"Number five?" Pidge repeated, eyeing Coran incredulously.

"I have you all ranked by height. Shiro is number one, and you are number five. Now, what was I saying?" He mused aloud, stroking his mustache thoughtfully.

"I suppose you can all get separate rooms..." Allura said, pouting. "Although, if we get new people here, then a few you are going to have to share rooms."

"Sweet!" Lance cheered, "I get a whole room to myself!"

"We all do," Keith replied dryly.

"Not even you can make this suck for me," Lance said, grinning. "We get actual showers!"

"Speaking of which, I'm going to take an hour shower as soon as we get out of the hall," Hunk said, sighing deeply. "It's been a while since I've taken a shower without being afraid that a zombie will rip through the shower curtain and eat me."

" _That's_ why you made me guard the bathroom door when you occasionally showered?!" Lance asked incredulously.

"Maybeee," Hunk said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Pidge chuckled. "Well, I think you can stop worrying about that now. Oh by the way," she said, turning to face Keith, "you're taking the room next to mine."

Keith grinned. "Aw, you still want to be neighbors?"

Pidge shrugged. "Eh. Call it a stupid custom, but I kinda liked having you as my neighbor. No harm in keeping tradition though, right?" She said, looking up at Keith with a toothy grin.

"Obviously," Keith replied softly and playfully, ruffling her hair with his gloved hand as Allura motioned for them to follow her down the hall.

Lance rolled his eyes, leaning in towards Hunk. "I told you he has a thing for her."

"Why do you care about that so much?" Hunk asked, looking at Lance suspiciously. "Don't tell me you have a thing for–"

"No!" Lance squawked, attracting the attention of the group. He coughed awkwardly, Hunk sending him a pointed look.

"Mhm, sure. You didn't even know which one I was talking about."

"I know which one you were going to say," Lance said, sending Hunk a pointed glare, "and I would appreciate it if you did not bring up the name."

"Name of who?" Pidge asked, suddenly turning her attention back to Lance. "Ooh, is it about Lance's exes? I love hearing those stories," she said, grinning.

Lance turned red. "Who told you–"

"My personal favorite is the one about Jenny Shabon," she said, her grin growing. "I love how she called you upstairs at a party and left you handcuffed to the bedpost while she ran off with another guy."

"Hunk, why'd you tell her?!" Lance screeched, looking mortified as the others began chuckling.

"Sorry buddy," Hunk replied, biting his bottom lip to contain his smile. "I just couldn't help it! I had to tell _someone_."

"Well, I would've preferred if it wasn't–!"

"Lance!" A female voice called out, stopping the boy from continuing whatever he was going to say.

"Pidge!" Another voice called out, coming from the same direction as the female's came from.

Both Pidge and Lance turned around, his breath hitching in his throat as he came to face with someone who he never thought he would see again. Pidge immediately burst into tears as she spotted a familiar figure running towards her, both her and Lance breaking into a full blown sprint as they raced down the hall, ignoring the shouts from their group behind them asking for an explanation.

"Veronica!"

"Matt!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry I kinda just disappeared, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Battlefield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Lance finally reunite with some familiar faces, and Allura makes them a proposal that brings around several postivite and negative reactions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been forever since I uploaded but here’s the next chapter! Also, shameless self promo, but if you’re into shallura, I just published a new story revolving specifically around them wink wink. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Veronica!”

“Matt!”

The two flung themselves into their sibling’s arms, tackling them to the ground in a tearful reunion. Matt repeatedly kissed his sister’s temple, the girl burying her head in the crook of her brother’s neck, trying to hide her tears from Keith, who she could tell was smiling fondly at her. Lance started crying in Veronica’s arms, the girl carding her fingers through his hair repeatedly while he gripped onto her, too afraid to let go.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” he hiccuped, his lips trembling.

“Me either,” Veronica confessed, sending him a small smile. 

“How’d you survive Kerberos and a zombie apocalypse?” Pidge asked through her tears, sniffling as she finally looked up at her brother’s face.

“It’s a reallyyyy long story,” he chuckled, wiping away a tear.

“Is mama here? Rachel? Luis?”

“Is dad here? What about mom?”

A cough interrupted them, the four sprawled on the floor turning around to face Allura, Keith, Hunk, and Shiro looking up at her with glares and frowns.

“Oh come on, dude,” Hunk grumbled in annoyance.

She smiled sympathetically. “As heartfelt as this reunion is, we need to talk about the reason why I brought you here.”

“I told you she wanted something,” Keith whispered into Shiro’s ear, shaking his head disapprovingly as he watched Pidge glare at Allura, Matt visibly panicking and gripping her arms tightly. “Nice people wouldn’t ask you for a favor after they saved you.”

“Keith, please,” Shiro breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m right and I’m going to say it, Shiro.”

“No, you are a rebel jumping to conclusions before we even hear what she wants to tell us.”

“Watch me be right,” he said,crossing his arms across his chest. 

“Do you think Pidge is going to curse her out?” Hunk asked, inching closer to Keith as he watched Pidge and Allura stare each other down. 

“Most likely,” Keith said, watching Pidge try to shake out of her brother’s grasp.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Yeah, I called it.”

“Excuse me?” Allura asked, drawing her brows together.

“You heard me,” Pidge snarked, gritting her teeth.“Who the fuck interrupts a family reunion just to talk about why you brought us here? We know why you brought us here, so why don’t you just let us take a break first before–”

“Take a break? Ha!” Allura barked bitterly, clenching her fists at her sides. 

“Princess–” Coran began, only to be silenced by a glare from Allura. 

“No, Coran! We put our lives on the line to save these people who might be the solution to ending this hell of a zombie apocalypse and they repay us by yelling at us? No, this cannot stand!”

“I didn’t ask for you to save me!” Pidge yelled back, attracting the attention of a few people down the hall. “You decided to save us, Princess,” she sneered. “I don’t know what kind of Princess you are, but you sure as hell don’t act like one! Where’s your sense of hospitality or–”

“Pidge!” Lance called out, the girl snapping her neck to face him.

“What?!”

“Let her talk,” he said, frowning.

“Why should I? I finally find my brother after two years of not knowing where he is, and I have to move on quickly just because some lady with a British accent tells me to?!”

“Pidge, I would love nothing more than to agree with you, but she’s right. We came here because she wanted to explain what Voltron and the Galra are, and that’s pretty damn important.

“But–”

“I know,” he said sympathetically. “I know you want to go find your family, hell, so do I! But we can’t just run off without hearing what she wants us to hear. She saved us, and we should just be grateful that she didn’t leave us for dead in that hospital closet.”

“Hospital closet?” Veronica asked, exchanging a look with Matt.

“We’ll have a proper reunion with our families after Allura is done talking to us. Just...stop fighting with her, okay?” He said hopefully, sending her a small smile.

“I–”

“Pidge,” Matt said gently, looking at his sister with kind eyes, “I’ll take you to see mom once we’re done here, I promise. Besides, my story kinda has to do with the Galra, and I’m sure Shiro’s does too. We need to fill you in on some stuff before we can move on.”

“Is it really that important?” 

“It is,” Allura said, her voice firm. “I wouldn’t request for you to break up your reunion under normal circumstances, but you all need to know just what we’re dealing with before we let you roam about.”

Pidge glared at Allura as she spoke, clenching her fists tightly at her sides.

“Fine,” she said bitterly, “but make it quick.”  
Allura nodded and quickly motioned for them to follow her into the elevator again, the group descending to the third floor this time instead of ascending towards the fifth floor. Once there, she ushered them into what could only be described as a meeting room, a large table in the center with enough space for ten people to sit at. At the front of the room sat a large tv, its screen black.

Pidge squeezed between her brother and Keith in a small uncomfortable chair still glaring at Allura. Yes, she was still offended, and she felt that she had every right to feel offended. Not only had she abruptly ended her reunion with her brother, but she had basically told her to shut up when she had asked what the fuck was wrong with her. She was convinced that if she was alone with Allura for a few minutes, one of them would be dead in seconds.

She could already tell that she and Allura were not going to be the best of buddies.

Across the table from her, Lance was sporting a pout. He was squeezed between Veronica and Hunk, looking none too pleased that Allura had interrupted his tearful reunion with his sibling, even though he had been the one to convince Pidge that they could have a proper reunion later. Veronica didn’t look exactly happy either, the girl only exchanging frowns with Matt when their eyes met.

Pidge watched as Matt sent Veronica a reassuring smile, the girl smiling back gratefully before turning back to whisper something into Lance’s ear. Pidge raised an amused brow as she watched Matt’s gaze linger on Veronica a little too long, his smile just a little softer. 

“I don’t see you for two years and you’re suddenly making goo goo eyes at a girl in front of me?” She teased in a low voice, letting go of her resentment for the moment. She grinned at how Matt’s face immediately flushed a shade of red. 

“It’s not like that!” He whined, pouting. “She’s just...a coworker,” he answered carefully, shrugging. 

Pidge nodded. “Mhm, sure. Whatever you say, Matt.”

He sent her an unimpressed look, opening his mouth to argue with her. He was cut off by Allura, who was standing at the front of room, looking down at everyone sitting down. Everyone except for Coran, that is.

“Should I bring in tea or drinks?” He asked, looking around at the sudden bright faces. 

“You have actual drinks that aren’t old water and Gatorade?” Hunk asked incredulously, eyes wide. 

Allura’s eyes twinkled, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “Yes, we do. We produce most of our food, and that also includes tea.”

“Coffee?” Shiro asked hopefully, much to Allura’s amusement. 

“Unfortunately, no. We tend to save what little we have for really important moments since we can barely find any. Beta Team was only able to bring back a few pounds of coffee before having to get out of the city.”

Keith frowned. “You keep saying that; “Beta Team.” What exactly is Beta Team?”

Allura lost her smile and frowned, clasping her hands tightly above her abdomen. 

“Right, that’s what I wanted to speak to you all about.” She cleared her throat, motioning towards the screen behind her. 

The screen cast an image of a few people with profiles, each profile labeling them in either Beta, Omega, and Alpha Team. Each soldier was ranked with intelligence and agility stats, the most powerful and strongest ones in Alpha. 

“Woah,” Lance whispered. “You have scouting teams?” 

Allura nodded. “Team Beta is the youngest team, made up of various eighteen to twenty year olds who are trained here to hunt for food and basic survival skills for overnight missions. Beta Team only scouts the outskirts of the main city, and on special occasions, we send them off to other nearby cities with the other teams.”

“Special occasions?” Hunk asked, raising a brow. “What kind of special occasions?”

Allura cleared her throat again. “The uh, special occasions are when we have leads on the Galra.”  
Shiro frowned. “You send them to take out the Galra.”

Allura nodded. “We usually don’t send them to do the kills, because they’re so young and they tend to have more sympathy with the Galra. The scouting team that is sent to scout in other states and places that are hours away from here is Team Alpha, which is made up of the stronger, more experienced soldiers.”

“What about Team Omega?” Lance asked, pointing at the screen. 

Allura pursed her lips. “Team Omega almost never returns from their scouts inside the city with a complete team. They search every apartment and store, every building from top to bottom in search for survivors. However, that makes it dangerous for them.”

“So you’re sending people off to die?” Pidge asked incredulously, furrowing her brows angrily. “Oh great, we were brought to a camp where we’re going to be sent off to our deaths!”

“Would you please shut your mouth?” Allura snapped, glaring pointedly at Pidge. 

“You basically just admitted to sending people off to die! I am not going to shut up about something so...so wrong!” She spat. 

“There’s more to the story, Pidge,” Matt said gently, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Just...listen to Allura before you come to conclusions.”

Pidge harrumphed, sticking her nose in the air and turning her head away from Allura. 

Allura let out a heavy sigh, sending Matt a grateful look. 

“As I was saying, Omega Team searches every building in the city...but we don’t elect them for the team,” she said quietly, pinching the inside of her palm. 

Keith and Shiro both exchanged a frown. 

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked. 

“Omega Team didn’t originally exist when we first opened the base. It was created when a group of people banded up and helped bring in refugees that were hiding in the city at the beginning of the breakout. The team is basically made up of selfless women and men who volunteer to scout for survivors and supplies, so we don’t ‘send them off to die’ like you assume,” she said sharply, sending Pidge a scathing glare. 

“I was part of Omega a few months ago,” Matt said quietly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. 

Pidge quickly snapped her head back around, looking at her brother in astonishment. 

“You volunteered to die?” She asked, her throat suddenly going dry. 

Matt crossed his arms across his chest tightly. “I was the leader of Omega Team until I almost lost a leg on a mission. Veronica was there with me, and so was…”

His gaze shifted to the side, the atmosphere in the room suddenly heavy. 

Lance frowned. “Who else was there?”

Matt shook his head, refusing to look at him.  
“No one,” he said loudly, as if forcing himself to speak. 

Pidge didn’t miss the way Veronica’s face crumbled, discreetly wiping her eyes with the cuff of her jacket. 

“We won’t press on,” Allura said gently, sending Matt a comforting smile.

“So about Team Omega,” Veronica suddenly spoke up, drawing attention away from Matt. 

“What about it?” Lance asked, raising a brow. “Are we going to be put into it? Or are we going to other teams?”

“I would very much prefer to be in Team Beta, thank you very much,” Hunk said quickly, wringing his hands nervously. “I don’t deal well with going on a mission knowing that I will probably, you know, die.”

Allura quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not what I came here to talk about.”

“Then what is it?” Pidge snapped. “Stop stalling and giving us useless information.”

“The reason I brought you here is because you know about Voltron,” Allura said calmly, ignoring Pidge instead of yelling back. 

“Correction; Shiro knows what that is,” Lance said, folding his arms across his chest. “And probably Keith since he looks like the kind of guy that would know about a top secret organization like that.”

Keith raised a brow. “I literally had no idea what a Voltron was until Shiro mentioned the Galra, and then I had no idea what the fuck that was.”

Lance shrugged. “Eh. You still look like the kind of guy who knows what it is.”

Keith only shook his head.

Allura let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Voltron is like a scouting team, but it’s more important in terms of what it’s looking for. It’s a small group, and we haven’t established the team because we don’t know who we can trust with the task at hand.” 

“Are you saying that we’re going to be part of this team?” Lance asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. “Because that’s what it sounds like.”

Allura bit her lip, fighting down a growing smile. 

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m proposing. Team Voltron is a group made up of five specially selected people who will be called Paladins. Each Paladin gets their own vehicle to drive around in, but only outside of camp. Each vehicle is equipped for different missions, including the more precarious ones.”

“Wait, what exactly would we be looking for?” Keith asked. 

Allura licked her lips nervously, and after a few moments of tense silence, spoke up again. “There is…a tentative cure out there,” she said carefully.  
Just as expected, the room turned into chaos. 

“Wait what?!” Lance squawked, his eyes wide and wild. 

“Couldn’t you have said that earlier?!” Pidge screeched, clinging onto Keith’s arm in excitement. 

“What the fuck,” Keith breathed out, staring at Allura with wide eyes. 

Allura nodded, a thin smile on her lips. “No one else at camp knows this, and the only reason we’re telling all of you this is because, well…”  
Hunk gasped. “We’re going to watch everything happen?”

The room suddenly got quiet and Hunk was met with judgmental stares, Keith and Lance looking the most annoyed out of all of them. 

“Dude,” Lance said, “Allura literally told us that we’re basically paladins!”

Veronica coughed. “You have to hear the terms of accepting before you get too many ideas,” she said, bringing Lance back down to Earth. 

Matt nodded. “Veronica is right. There’s way more to Team Voltron that you all should know before you accept.”

Allura glared at them. “You’re making it sound like they’re going to be tortured. They have to accept, regardless of conditions.”

Matt frowned. “What? That’s not protocol!”

Allura sent him a glare. “Need I remind you that you were allowed in here because you’re one of the few, along with Veronica, that know about the cure?”

“Tentative cure,” Veronica replied with a frown. “How do we even know that it’ll work? It’s in the freaking hands of the Galra, for crying out loud!”

“Sending them into the heart of the Galra Empire is suicide itself,” Matt declared, slamming his hands on the table. “Allura, look at them! They’re kids! What do they know about saving the world?”

Shiro frowned. “Matt, I don’t think–”

“No!” Matt yelled, startling his sister. “Voltron wasn’t successful the last time it happened, and this was before the epidemic even spread worldwide. The Paladins died and turned, and I don’t want to see that happen to anyone ever again!”

Veronica stiffly nodded. “I agree with Matt. These are children, Allura. With all due respect, what could they possibly know about war?”

“I’ve been living in an abandoned house for almost two years now,” Keith growled, his tone attracting everyone’s attention. 

Pidge nodded aggressively, agreeing with him. “I am no child like you say. All of us here have seen the dangers of the half dead freaks, and we’ve stayed alive up until now, even on our own!”  
She trained her eyes on Matt, who only looked away uncomfortably. 

“Lance? Hunk? Shiro?” Allura asked, her tone frigid, “What are your thoughts about forming team Voltron?”

Hunk frowned. “I mean, I like staying alive and all, but I feel like denying the right to create Team Voltron is kinda stupid. Like, we’re looking for the cure, right? If we can find the cure, there won’t be a need for anything like this in the future.”

“We’d be saving countless of lives,” Keith said sharply. “This is it. We’ve finally found our purpose in this hell of a war.”

Lance pursed his lips. “Calm down, edgelord. We can’t just parade out there for a tentative cure. I want to save lives as much as you do, but we don’t even know what we’d be facing out there.”

“These aren’t zombies we’re dealing here with, Allura,” Matt said coldly. “This is the Galra we’re talking about. The same Galra that have attempted numerous times to bring down the walls of our safe haven and the same Galra who eliminated the original paladins of Team Voltron before the epidemic was even widespread!”

“Matt’s right,” Veronica said, glaring at Allura.  
“Team Voltron couldn’t take down the Galra before, and they were adults! How are we going to send people who aren’t even in their twenties to go fight a war against the same creators of the virus when we aren’t even sure that the cure is real?”

Shiro frowned. “With all due respect, I am not a teenager.”

“The cure is real,” Allura spat icily, clenching her trembling fists at her sides, ignoring Shiro. “We know that the Galra created the virus, and they have created the cure as well! Our own Alpha scouting team caught one of the Galra with it in a vial, for crying out loud!”

“There wouldn’t be a need for us to go find more of it if you hadn’t used it to save a person who only ended up backstabbing you later by running off with the Galra,” Veronica hissed. “You used it on a man who you believed was good, only to have him turn head and run back to the Galra, the same ones who we are trying to take down!”

“He turned back into a zombie a few days later!” Allura shouted. “There is the reason the cure is called tentative, Veronica. If they can make a simple cure that they can take to keep them alive for the duration of their journey, what makes you believe that there isn’t a bigger cure out there that can completely cure an infected person?”

“Even if that were true–”

“It is true,” Allura insisted, glaring daggers into Veronica’s head.

“You have no proof of that! We aren’t going to send children out there to get hurt,” Veronica yelled. “If anyone has to go out there and pay for your delusions, you might as well just pull some team members from Alpha and send them!”

Allura gasped. “How dare you call the cure a delusion? When it ends up saving your life, then we’ll see who was the one having delusions!”

“Enough!”

The two women stopped arguing, the words dying in their throats as they were silenced by Shiro.  
Shiro pushed his chair back and stood up. Putting his hands to his hips, he lowered his brows into a glare.

“Is this how you solve all your arguments? By fighting? That is no way to lead a refugee center,” he said angrily. “You speak as if we can’t hear you, as if every one of us here isn’t willing to lay their life down for a good cause. Whether the full cure is real or not, I agree with Allura. We need to go out and find it if we ever hope to have a chance at saving the lives being affected by this epidemic.”

“But–”

“No buts!” Shiro shouted, glaring at Matt. “I understand why there is hesitation, but we are the only ones other than you who know anything about the Galra. Matt, Veronica, I know you’re hesitant to send your siblings off to fight a war they just found out about, but they are two of the strongest people I have ever met. They saved me from being zombie bait even though they could’ve ran away. They are selfless and brave, and so are Keith and Hunk,” he said, gesturing at the two boys.

“I wouldn’t be standing here agreeing with Allura if I truly believed that it would be a suicide mission to send this team off to find the Galra and bring back the cure. If I’m standing here, it’s because I know what the Galra are like, and I know how resilient this team is. They’ve survived this long on their own fighting hordes of zombies, and they each have skills that have allowed them to survive until this day. They are not helpless,” he said, looking directly at Veronica.

“With a bit more training, I bet we could become real heroes,” Lance murmured, catching Keith’s attention.

“Shiro is right,” Keith said. “We each have skills that allowed us to live until now, so we wouldn’t be completely helpless if we went out there to fight the Galra. And like Lance said, with a bit more training, we could become the heroes that this world needs. There are so many people dying out there, and if we find that cure, we might just be able to save the world.”

Hunk frowned. “You’re right. But what do we do if we can’t find it? What if they’re right in saying that it doesn’t exist?”

“Then we’ll find out the ingredients that the Galra have used to make the temporary cure and use it to make a permanent one,” Pidge replied. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Matt gaped at her. “You can’t be serious about this!”

“Like hell I am,” she said, bristling with concealed anger. “I’m going to do this, Matt. I’ve watched so many people die thanks to these stupid zombies out there, including people I knew personally. I can’t watch any more people people die when there is a way to save them. I’m going to do it,” she stated angrily, “and you can’t stop me.”

Matt looked at Veronica for help, the girl immediately turning to face her brother. Clutching his arm tightly, she shook her head quickly.

“You aren’t going to do this.”

“I have to,” he responded quietly. 

“No, you don’t!”

“Veronica, look around you! There are so many people dying out there daily, and so many people fighting for their lives. So many people out there have had to put their kids down themselves before they turn, and so many have had to suffer endless days of running because there’s a horde everywhere they turn. You’re lucky that you got to go from shelter to shelter, but me? I survived weeks without you, and I watched everything happen.”

Veronica let out a small hurt gasp. “Lance…”  
“No, Veronica! You’re fighting a war as well by working with Allura, and I’m not going to sit around and be a lazy lump while having to worry about our safe haven potentially being destroyed because we didn’t go find the cure that could save lives. I’m sorry,” he said, meeting her eyes, “but I have to do this.”

Veronica sat there in stunned silence, Matt doing the same. 

Lance turned around to face Shiro and nodded, his expression set in firm determination. “I’m going to do this.”

Shiro nodded. “And you, Hunk? Are you going to do it?”

Hunk glanced between Veronica and Shiro, his face showing off unease.

“Are you willing to do this?” Allura asked, joining Shiro.

Hunk frantically looked between Keith, Pidge, and Lance before letting out a loud groan. “Oh, what the heck. I’ve fought to stay alive this long. I might as well fight even more to ensure that everyone else doesn’t have to do the same in the future.”

“Yes!” Pidge cheered, leaning across the table to give Lance a high five. 

“Then it’s settled. You five will be the paladins of Voltron, and will soon set out on your first mission to go find the cure,” Allura said, determination evident in her tone. “You cannot tell anyone in this camp of the position that you are in until we have the cure in our hands. We don’t want to raise anyone’s hopes only to shatter them if we come out empty handed.”

“What about our families?” Lance asked, tilting his head to the side.

“You will only be allowed to tell your closest family members about this if they are here at camp with you, but they must vow to never speak of it lest they want to start mass panic at camp. Although, I don’t think there will be much trouble there,” she said, smiling fondly. “Your families have only contributed greatly and have wanted to help with everything since they moved here.”

Lance let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good. I was afraid that I was going to have to keep secrets from my family.”

“Believe me, they would’ve known anyways,” Veronica growled lowly.

“We will meet here again tomorrow to assign you each to your missions. For now, I would say that it’s best for you all to rest. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.” 

The paladins nodded and murmured about themselves as they trickled out of the room, Shiro the last one to walk out behind them. Matt followed closely behind, but not before stopping to stare at Allura with a frown.

“You better not have just sent them off to their deaths.”

Veronica and Allura watched him walk out in silence, not daring to look at the other as the door shut behind Matt.

Allura cleared her throat. “Veronica–”

“You know as well as I do that they are children,” Veronica hissed, still refusing to meet Allura’s eyes. “They don’t know how bad this war is. They’ve fought to survive, and now that they don’t have to do that, you send them off to fight an actual war? They may have skills, but this is the Galra we’re talking about here.”

Allura frowned. “They are not helpless, Veronica. They’ve survived quite well out there on their own. This war against the Galra would hardly be any different–”

“You may not know this since you’ve never had to fight to survive, but beyond these walls, it’s hell. Even without the Galra, the amount of zombies out there is enough to overwhelm them if they get cornered. How are they supposed to fight the Galra, who are the creators of the zombies? They’re kids, Allura.”

“Matt was their age too when he joined Omega team,” Allura said defensively.

“Yeah, and he ended up having to watch his girlfriend die in front of him because she sacrificed herself so that the rest of us would live,” Veronica spat. 

“You are sending them into a battlefield. Defending themselves from zombies is one thing, but going up against the Galra? It’s almost as if you want them dead.”

Allura shook her head. “They volunteered themselves to do this. If they believe that they can do it, who am I to stop them? They are determined to help, with or without your permission. If I truly believed that this was a death sentence, then I wouldn’t send them on this mission.”

“I do not agree with what you’re doing, but since I am not the daughter of the camp leader I have no say in what goes on in this camp. However,” she said, whirling around to face Allura with a murderous glare, “if my brother gets so much as a scratch, they won’t be able to find your body.”

Allura wrinkled her nose. “Your threats do not strike fear into my heart,” she said, staring Veronica down. 

“He volunteered, and it’s on him if he gets injured. Veronica, you need to stop babying your brother. He’s more than capable of defending himself. Even he said so himself! You can’t control his entire life.”

Veronica looked down at her shoes before looking up at Allura, her depression unreadable. 

“Talk to me when you actually have someone you care about get directly involved taking down the Galra.”

Turning on her heel, Veronica walked out of the room, leaving Allura to look after her in a stunned silence. The door slammed shut as she walked out, Allura holding a hand up to her heart and her other to her head. 

“Father, give me the strength to go on, please. They think I’m crazy, but I know that I’m not. Please, tell me that I just made the right choice.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she sank into the chair that Shiro had been sitting in. Crossing her arms across her chest, she let her head droop as she closed her eyes. 

“Please tell me that I made the right choice.”

* * *

“So that debriefing, huh,” Matt said, sitting in the lounge area. 

Veronica let out a snort. “It was something, wasn’t it.”

Matt nodded. Staring into his hands, he let out a soft sigh. 

“I didn’t mean to get so worked up. I knew what Allura was planning as soon as she told us that she and Coran had saved people who had knowledge on the Galra, but I never expected…”

“It to be your sibling?” Veronica asked, a sympathetic smile on her lips. “Yeah, I hear you. I haven’t seen my brother in so long, and now that I finally get to see him again, he’s about to be sent off to fight a war against the Galra.”

Matt barked out a laugh. “Life, am I right?”

“Oh yeah,” Veronica said, forcing out a strained laugh. 

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Veronica lowered her gaze, staring at the tips of her shoes. 

“Do you still miss her?”

“Everyday,” Matt replied, not missing a beat. “I see her everytime we get pulled into missions, and it hurts like hell knowing that she’s gone. In hindsight, I’m kind of an idiot for not wanting to allow my sister to fight the Galra when they were the ones who took the love of my life away from me.”

Veronica frowned. Putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, she flashed him a warm smile. 

“She died a hero, Matt. I’m not good with words, but if you ever want to talk about it… I’m here,” she said softly. 

Matt turned his attention to her before sending her a small smile, his hands still dropped in front of him. 

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that I highkey ship Veronica and Matt? The romance will start to evolve in the next few chapters, but it will be a slowburn. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!


	5. City of the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins are sent off to their first mission, and they meet a new ally along the way. Meanwhile, Keith and Lance finally start warming up to one another, and nearly die in the process.

“This smell is disgusting,” Lance grumbled, kicking a piece of garbage with his foot. “Allura, did you send us into Satan’s armpit?”

“ _I sent you to one of the closest zombie infested areas_ ,” she replied over the comms. “ _We call it the Balmera. Recent reports from other groups have confirmed that there is a group of survivors inhabiting the area. It’s your job to find them and bring them back to home base_.”

“You know, I thought we would at least get to run a simulation before doing the real thing,” Hunk said from beside Lance, gripping onto his handgun tightly. “We don’t even know how to use half of the devices that we were given!”

“That’s because you don’t need to know how they all work yet,” Keith replied, looking quickly from side to side. 

“Keith’s right.”

“Keith’s right,” Lance mimicked, sticking out his tongue. “Pidge, please. Keith is _always_ right when it comes down to you.”

“Because he is,” she insisted before trailing off, “...well, most of the time,” she said with a shrug.

Everyone in the group except Keith let out a low chuckle, trying not to be so loud as they crept through the wooded area.

“Listen, I’m just saying that we should know how everything works in case we do need it. I mean, for all you know, that little tide pod looking thing can be useful!” Hunk pouted.

“The little tide pod thing is a net,” Shiro said, glancing back at the group. “Don’t ask how I know.”

“How _do_ you know?” Pidge asked, raising a brow in confusion.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Shiro said sheepishly. “I’d rather not say.”

“He’d rather not say because we were throwing it back and forth on the training deck a few days ago, and the thing exploded on him middair,” Keith said with a small grin. “It took me a good five minutes to get him out of it.”

“You already started training and didn’t tell any of us?!” Lance screeched over the comms, looking at Keith in shock.

“Why would I tell you? It’s up to each of us to train,” Keith replied indifferently, “and shush! Stop being so loud!”

“We’re supposed to work as a team,” Lance grumbled. “What kind of team doesn’t even train together? One of us is going to die because we aren’t caught up with what everyone else is doing.”

“And that’ll probably be you,” Pidge said dryly, earning her a few snorts of laughter from the rest of her teammates.

“Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you. You’re just easy to make fun of,” she shrugged. “It’s like how you make fun of Keith every chance you get because he’s an easy target.”

“Yeah, about that. What did I ever do to you?” Keith asked Lance indignantly.

“You existed,” Lance replied dryly.

“Wow.”

“I can see a few buildings up ahead,” Hunk said loudly, shaking the group from their bickering.

“Good eye, Hunk,” Shiro said with a smile. “Allura, can you confirm that this is the Balmera?”

“ _Affirmative, Shiro. That is indeed the Balmera_.”

“Why call it the Balmera? Was it actually called that before the whole zombie plague spread?” Lance asked. 

“ _It’s called the Balmera because of the weird creatures that were found in them_ ,” Coran said over the comms. “ _They were very ugly, looked almost like big fat toads. However, they were akin to rhinos in that they let tiny creatures live off of them by eating their dead scales_.”

“Okay, that is not what I wanted to hear,” Hunk said, his face turning a slight shade of green. 

“Hunk, no! No hurling in the middle of zombie infested woods!” Lance scolded.

“I’ve been taking science classes since kindergarten and have scoured the dark web, and I have literally never heard of any creature like that existing,” Pidge said in disgust. “Are you sure you’re not making them up?”

“ _Oh no, they’re very real. Why, I have an ancient fossilized one sitting in the back of my closet in a jar_!”

“Gross,” the four teens said in unison, shuddering. 

“Are you really surprised that he owns a balmera?” Shiro asked with a grin. “No offense, Coran.”

“ _None taken. I can even send you a picture if you want_.”

“No!” Hunk groaned, closing his eyes. 

“ _Well, suit yourself. But to answer your question, number five–_ ”

“Number five?” Pidge echoed in confusion.

“ _I have you ranked by height. Anyways, I used to work closely with the Balmerans. This creature is extremely rare and protected by the people in the town, so you cannot go blabbering about this to just anyone you meet_!”

“Who would we talk about it with? The corpses?” Keith asked sarcastically.

Lance snorted. “Can you just imagine talking to the walking dead? ‘Hey Shelly, come look at this Balmera!’ ‘Grr.’”

Keith grinned. “It would be more of a ‘raaaah’, you know.”

“That doesn’t even come close to what they sound like!” Lance laughed. “Point is, Coran, you don’t have to worry about us talking with anyone else about the Balmera creatures. Everyone around here is either dead or already knows about them.”

“ _Yes, well. I suppose you have a point there_.”

“Okay, wrong,” Hunk scoffed. “Zombies sound more like ‘argh argh argh’, you know.”

“Technically zombies do not say either of those,” Pidge said, cocking her head to the side. “They sound more like ‘gaaaargh gaaaargh gaaaargh’.”

“Alright guys, enough with the bad zombie imitations,” Shiro said wearily before grinning. “Besides, they sound more like ‘grrgh grrgh grrgh.’”

“What?” Keith and Lance asked indignantly, looking at Shiro in disbelief.

“ _Paladins, please. This is your first mission, and I do not want to have to contact any of your family members to have to tell them that you’re dead because you couldn’t act serious enough_.”

“Paladins, please,” Pidge mimicked, rolling her eyes. “Okay, we get it, Princess. Shiro, what’s our next step?”

“We need to infiltrate the city without bringing any attention to ourselves. Our scans from home base showed us that there has been heavy Galra activity here, so we have to take them out before freeing the people.”

“So how do we do that? Split up into teams?” Lance asked.

“Yes. Pidge, you, Hunk and I will team up to try and find the Balmerans and unarm the Galra in our way. There aren’t many of them, so that won’t be too hard. Lance and Keith? Your job is to find the central Galra command here and take the them out. Then we’ll all get together and free the people. We need it to be quick; just an in and out mission. Got it?”

“Ugh,” Lance groaned, “great. Come on, mullet.”

“Hang on there, Lance. Do you two have your weapons?”

“Never leave home without this baby,” Lance smirked, kissing his gun.

“Are you sure you want us to work together?” Keith asked Shiro, grimacing when Lance wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Pidge. 

“Keith, we’re a team now. You can’t just work by yourself. Besides, this is an easy mission. You literally just have to beat up the Galra, and then you’re out.”

“I can do that perfectly fine on my own,” Keith protested.

“You have a sword, and he has a gun. He’ll be better at helping you take out any of the Galra than anyone else. Besides, you two need to learn how to work together,” Shiro said with a small grin. 

“I hate you.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t have saved me.”

“Ladies, we’re wasting time!” Pidge shouted. “I want to actually be home in time to eat dinner today, you heard me?”

“Feisty,” Lance smirked. “I like that.”

“Choke, McClain. Literally choke.”

“Alright, let’s get a move on! Once we pass the city gates, we’re splitting off.”

The rest of the team nodded, following Shiro as he slipped quietly through the city gates, carefully looking around for any sign of the Galra. Once they successfully entered the city, Shiro gave the cue of directions, and each team split off, running in opposite directions.

“Are you sure that letting Keith and Lance work together was a good idea?” Pidge asked, frowning.

“Yeah, are you sure that it was a good idea?” Hunk echoed Pidge, looking at Shiro in confusion as they made their way through the city to the other side, where Allura had said the survivors were being held captive.

“Trust me. They’ll be fine.”

* * *

“You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”

“...no.”

Lance snorted. “Great. We’re lost. Of all places to get lost in, it has to be the area that’s creeping with Galra and zombies.”

“Allura still didn’t really explain that part,” Keith frowned. “Like, okay they’re the enemy, but how do we know they’re the enemy? Do they have an distinct parts that separate them from normal people?”

“Even if they do have distinct parts, we don’t have the time to look through their pants,” Lance said dryly.

“That is not what I meant!” Keith said exasperatedly, grunting as they came upon another dead end. 

“Veronica told me that the only thing that really separates them from the rest of us their uniform. Oh, and their eyes.”

“Their eyes?” Keith echoed in confusion.

“Yeah, their eyes. We normal people have normal eye colors, but the Galra apparently have yellow eyes. Well, some of them, anyways. Veronica said that it’s because most of them are part zombies themselves, but less corrupt and more capable of acting human. It makes no sense, though, because the zombie outbreak happened last year.”

“That’s...insanely creepy and cool,” Keith said in surprise, eyes slightly wide. “What does their uniform look like?”

“Purple,” Lance replied without missing a beat. “Some Galra are traitors, though. Matt told me that there’s been rumors of a Galra organization that is made of the pure Galra, the ones who haven’t been infected or anything. They’re like imposters, in a way. They call themselves Galra but aren’t.”

“And how do we know who those are?”

“No yellow eyes, obviously,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. “Come on, mullet. You should be able to pick these things up!”

“Yeah, but if they don’t have yellow eyes, what separates them from normal humans? There has to be a distinct feature,” Keith argued.

“I dunno, man. I’ve never come in contact with one. My guess is purple eyes or something purple. Purple hair, maybe?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Keith snorted. “The purple eyes are believable, but purple hair? You’ve watched too much anime.”

“I’ll have you know that anime is a crown and Naruto is its crown jewel,” Lance sniffed indignantly.

“Yeah yeah, okay. Back to the mission.”

“Party pooper.”

“Where are we supposed to find the Galra central command? We don’t even know these streets!”

“At least we don’t have to deal with zombies,” Lance shrugged. “Hey, wait. If it’s called central command, wouldn’t it be in the center of the town?”

“Yeah…?”

“Then we should head towards the center of the city! Since there are no zombies around here, then they’re obviously not in any part of the city. They roam around a lot, yunno.”

“That...isn’t such a bad idea,” Keith replied, slightly pouting. “But you’re wrong about the zombies. There are a lot of them milling about the closer you get to the center of the city, which is really weird.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“It _would_ make more sense if the zombies were spread out, but they’re not. Zombies don’t travel in packs; they tend to travel alone. That’s why I find it so weird that they’re all bunched up closer to the center.”

“That is pretty weird,” Lance agreed. “Do you think it’s the Galra?”

“Probably. Whatever it is, though, we have to find another way to the center of the city. If we head towards it straight on the ground, we’re going to get caught.”

“What if that’s why the Galra set up the zombies?” Lance said, feeling around the edges of the dead end. “What if they put it there to make it seem like there’s no way of getting there, when there actually is another hidden way?”

“You mean like secret tunnels? That would be too easy,” Keith frowned. “Besides, there’s nothing there that looks like it could be a secret passage entrance.”

“Maybe you just have to look harder,” Lance smirked before pushing a stone into the wall.

Keith stared at him in confusion before letting out a gasp as a trap door opened below them, leading down to what looked like a tunnel. He looked up at Lance in shock, the other boy only grinning widely before dropping down into the opening.

“Lance?!”

“Keith, there’s no one here. Just hurry up before we get caught!” 

Keith groaned before letting himself fall into the opening, the trap door closing right behind him as he fell on the ground. He grumbled to himself under his breath as Lance chuckled, towering above him.

“I didn’t think you would be the kind of guy to be extremely clumsy.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Lance motioned him to follow him down the tunnel, both boys walking in silence while gripping onto their weapons tightly. They continued to walk straight ahead, too afraid to talk in fear that they would suddenly be jumped by someone hiding in the tunnels.

After a few minutes of silence, Lance cleared his throat. “Shouldn’t we uh, warn Shiro about the whole ‘zombies up ahead’ thing?”

“I thought he knew already,” Keith said in confusion. 

“Wait,” Lance said, stopping in his tracks, “How did you know that the zombies were all grouped up?”

“It was just a sense. Besides, Pidge and I scoped out this area by ourselves last night. We didn’t exactly see them, but you can sense the impending doom the closer you get.”

“Wait, you snuck out with Pidge? How?!” Lance questioned him, mouth agape.

“We stole a truck and pretended we were on night watch,” Keith shrugged. “Pidge managed to find the location and brought us here.”

“And you didn’t get caught?”

“Who do I look like? _You_?”

“Hey! That was just mean,” Lance pouted.

Keith grinned. “No, we didn’t get caught. Well, we did, but Allura pardoned us on the condition that we be in our rooms right after dinner from now on.”

“That’s...not so terrible,” Lance frowned. “How come she didn’t punish Pidge as much as I thought she would? And why did you take her precisely? Do you have a thing for her or something?”

“Why? You jealous?”

“Of you? Never!” Lance sputtered. 

“Allura didn’t punish Pidge because I told her what we found and we didn’t get caught by the Galra. And that final question? None of your business,” Keith said indifferently, furrowing his brows as they neared an opening.

“You do have a thing for her!”

“Shh!” Keith hissed, slapping a hand over his mouth as they came to a stop near the large opening. “We’re here.”

Lance licked Keith’s hand, the other boy not even blinking before letting him go, too busy looking at the scene in front of him. Lance didn’t have to ask him why he was so surprised, because in the center of the town underground, there were various groups of people in circles guarded by ‘soldiers’ who were aiming guns at them.

Up ahead, he could see the actual Galra command where the controls that permitted the entrance and exit of the prisoners were located. There were bigger soldiers stationed there, overlooking the poor prisoners who looked terrified.

“Wait,” Lance said quietly, “if the Balmerans are here, then who are Shiro and the rest of the group heading towards?”

Keith and Lance exchanged one look before Keith pressed his comm back on, hearing it crackle back to life before he spoke.

“Shiro?”

“ _Yes_?”

“We have a problem.”

* * *

“What do you mean there’s no Balmerans on the other side of town?!” Pidge screeched quietly, clenching her fists together.

“Keith and Lance found a set of underground tunnels that led them to central command. The Balmerans are all there, with the Galra ready to shoot if they make any sudden movements.”

“I don’t understand,” Hunk frowned. “If the Balmerans are there, then who are we looking for on the other side of town? Why did our scanners pick up so many body heat signatures on our initial perimeter scan?”

Pidge furrowed her brows before gasping. “They’re planning an ambush. They must have caught wind that we were coming to liberate the people and moved them!”

“How could they have possibly known that we were coming? We laid low and everything!” Hunk said in disbelief. 

Pidge grimaced, averting her gaze from the other two men. She tugged on the hem of her jacket, chewing on her lip nervously.

“Keith and I might have, uhm...sneaked out last night to scope out the area,” she said quietly. 

“You what?! And you didn’t get caught?” Hunk gaped, face full of horror.

“Hey, we came to scope out the area to make sure that it was safe,” she retorted angrily. “You should be thanking us. We could’ve been blown up, for all you know!”

“Alright, just...stop, okay?” Shiro said, running a hand over his face. “What happened yesterday happened yesterday. All we need to do now is make sure to find Keith and Lance and make sure we stop the Galra from following us.”

“How are we going to do that if–!”

A sudden growling noise stopped Hunk from finishing his sentence.

Each of the three members in the small team immediately pulled up their weapons, holding them in front of them defensively. They looked around th small street they were in, Hunk trembling with fear while Shiro tried his best to try and act collected. 

Pidge, on the other hand, was glaring at one certain spot. 

“They’re in the center of town. They’re luring them out to us.”

“Who?”

“The Galra,” Shiro said faintly, lowering his pistol. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to hide out in one of these buildings, and when we’re sure that the zombies aren’t stumbling through the area, we’ll go help Keith and Lance.”

“ _What are we supposed to do? Just stay put_?”

“Try to take out the Galra command center. It’ll take the guards a while to notice you killed the other Galra, which will buy us enough time. Don’t worry. We’ll come help.”

“ _That only buys us so much time_ ,” Lance said, a hint of urgency in his tone. “ _Shiro, we won’t make it if we have to fight against these guys_.”

Shiro let out a small sigh, pushing his team into a small building, which lay abandoned in the outskirts of the main part of the city.

“Listen, Lance. We’re going to do everything we can to find a shortcut to you guys, but if we can’t and you have to face them off alone, you can do it. You and Keith are both talented fighters.”

“Yeah,” Pidge reassured him, “don’t worry. If there’s anyone who can make it possible to find a quick way to you guys, it’s Hunk and I.”

“ _Thank you. Stay safe, guys_.”

“Keep in contact if you run into any trouble. If you manage to sneak the prisoners out, then make sure to get them to the bus as soon as possible.”

“ _Copy that. Keith and Lance, out_.”

The comms went quiet, with only Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro’s breathing audible. 

“We are so, so screwed.”

“H...hello?” A timid voice called out, brown eyes poking out from behind the corner of a wall. “Are you...enemies? Or are you help?”

“We’re…”

“Help,” Shiro reassured, laying his weapon down. “We’re help. Trust me. We only came here to avoid the horde that will probably run through the streets in a while.”

“Oh...alright.” 

“Who are you?” Hunk asked, more curious than afraid. 

The person inhaled sharply before stepping out into the light, revealing a tall dark skinned female with worn sneakers, a washed out dark green shirt, and dark blue jeans. Her hair was curly, sitting in a bob over her shoulders, her face soft and her lips forming a small smile. 

“My name is Shay, and I believe I can help you with your dilemma.”

* * *

“I can’t believe they’re holding them at gunpoint,” Lance fumed, glaring with heavy hatred at the Galra soldiers. 

“They must be really insecure if they think they’re going to try to escape,” Keith frowned. “How many people are there?”

“I counted about thirty five without the soldiers,” Lance replied, furrowing his brows. “Are they all going to fit in the bus we brought? I mean, it is the biggest, but is it going to hold forty people?”

“We brought a literal bus with us. They’ll fit.”

“I’m still not so sure about that,” Lance said quietly. “What if we have to leave someone behind? What if they get infected before we can even make it back to the base?”

“The won’t,” Keith replied firmly. “Not on my watch. The infected creeps are going to have to get through me first.”

“That’s weird.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you don’t strike me as the type of guy to take out zombies to protect others. You’re more like a ‘every man for himself’ person, you know?”

Keith shook his head. “Everyone thinks that, but I guess it’s just an act. I just...always have an urge to protect everyone else above myself. Been like that since I was a kid. My dad told me it came from my mom, but I never met her so I can’t confirm it.”

“Seriously? I thought you knew her, and that she probably taught you the stupid way of only taking out zombies with a knife–or sword. I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s a blade. And no, she didn’t,” Keith said curtly. “This is just one of her old blades that she left for me. My dad spoke about it but I never actually used it until I was fifteen and suspicious about the zombie news rising. I started training, and it paid off.”

“So mullet has a creepy pre-zombie sense,” Lance shrugged. “That’s cool.”

“It’s not a mullet,” Keith said irritatedly, glaring at Lance out of the corner of his eye. “Stop focusing on my hair and focus on the mission. We aren’t going to lose anyone today.”

“Geez, you act like you’re the leader or something. I hate to break it to you, but that’s Shiro, not you.”

“Good, because I don’t want to be a leader,” Keith said gruffly. “There are people made for that position, and I’m not one of those. Now, like I said, just focus on the mission. You can make fun of my hair when we make sure everyone is safe.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Ugh. You’re such a stick in the mud, you know?”

“Yeah? Well–”

“ _Keith, Lance! We need you guys to take out the communication center in the hanger_ ,” Pidge’s voice spoke up, the two immediately stopping their bickering.

“Affirmative. Why, though?”

“ _The base you’re in has zombies that have been corralled on top of it. If they open the hatch, everyone in there is going to die! You need to deactivate the doors above and then we’ll help you take out the Galra_.”

“How will you guys even get in here?” Lance asked, furrowing his brows. “It’s too dangerous if they’re sending zombies out and about already. One of you could get hurt.”

“ _That’s...sweet, I guess, but trust us, we have it under control. Now focus on taking the hanger out and we’ll help you get the people out, but hurry_!”

“Copy,” Keith said grimly before turning around to face Lance. “We need to take out those guards in the hangar, but we can’t be seen or else they’ll hurt the innocent civilians. Do you have any useful plans?”

“I have plenty useful plans,” Lance smirked, crossing his arms across his chest.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah? Then name one and stop being so cocky, will you?”

“Yeesh! Stop being so stingy,” Lance grumbled, sending Keith a small glare before pointing at the hangar. “See those poles on top? We can crawl over them. They’re too high for anyone to see us.”

“But they’re going to know something is up when they can’t open the hatch. What will happen to the people down there?”

“ _You need to take out the hangar and those controlling them_ ,” Pidge spoke through the comms, “ _but don’t worry about the people. We have a plan, but we need you two to take out the hangar first._ ”

“What’s your plan?” Keith asked worriedly, his brows furrowing. “I hope it isn’t to shoot up the entire place.”

“ _Oh please. You know me_ ,” she replied, a teasing edge to her voice, “ _that’s only in a worst case scenario or video game. No, we have someone with inside knowledge about the tunnels. She’s going to lead us to you and we’ll get the people out and back to the vans before any zombie can spot us_.”

“What are we supposed to do about the zombies?” Lance interjected, sending Keith a slight glare.

“ _Oh, you need to blow them up or shoot at them. You know, make sure that we live and get the people to safety_.”

“So we basically almost die for the cause.”

“ _Yeah, pretty much_.”

“Great,” Lance said with a grin, cocking his head to the side. “Come on, mullet. We have baddies to defeat.”

“Baddies?” Keith echoed incredulously before shaking his head. “Okay, you know what? That’s enough of that. Let’s just make sure everyone escapes alive. We’ll joke about stuff later.”

“ _So serious_ ,” Pidge teased before coughing slightly. “ _We’re going to your location now. Once we get there, we’ll give you the signal to get the Galra idiots of riot and then you’ll take them out_.”

“Then another signal once you’re ready to evacuate so we shoot up the zombies,” Lance nodded. “Got it. See ya on the other side, Pidgie!”

“ _Stop. Keith, control yourself and don’t jump the cue_ ,” Pidge warned. “ _I know youI’m more than capable of taking care of myself_ ,” she chuckled, “ _but you two? May the odds be ever in your favor_.”

“ _This is sweet and all, but we’re kind of in a hurry to, you know, free the people_ ,” Hunk interrupted, a slight hint of annoyance in his tone. 

Lance wrinkled his nose. “Yeesh. What happened to you, buddy? You're almost as bad as Keith!”

“ _He met a girl who’s brother is one of those being held prisoner by the Galra_ ,” Pidge said quickly. “ _I’ll tell you guys later, but he is so into her and she’s into him, so if you can get his brother out, that would be a huge plus for Hunk_.”

“ _Pidge_!” Hunk whined. 

“Maybe you should invite her out to drinks,” Lance suggested, a smirk taking over his features before he winced as he heard a shout.

“ _Paladins, please! Focus on your mission first, and then focus on your romantic relationships_!” Allura scolded.

“Ugh,” Pidge groaned. “Keith and Lance, don’t mess up your parts. Okay, Shiro! We told them everything they need to know.”

“ _Please don’t mess this up_ ,” Shiro mumbled into his comm. “ _We already live in a messed up world. Don’t mess it up anymore_.”

“Psh,” Lance scoffed, “we’re only shooting zombies and getting people out. How hard can that be?”

* * *

It turned out that shooting zombies and getting people out to freedom at the same time was easier said than done.

“Keith, to your left!”

“Son of a bitch!” Keith yelled, slashing the head off of a zombie that had crawled up on his left. “Good eye! There’s six coming in from your far right and about five from my right!”

“Thank you!” Lance yelled in response, firing bullets at each of the zombies’ heads. “Where the hell are they coming from?! I thought they were all in the center!”

“I don’t know, but we need to figure out a plan before we get eaten!”

“Let’s lure them to the town square with the rest of the freaks!” Lance shouted as he fired his gun at the trio of zombies behind him, Keith running towards the ones approaching him and letting out a loud battle cry as he dug his blade into their brains.

“Good plan!” He shouted, reaching out for the other blade held fast to his belt. “Let’s lure them there and then make a run for it!”

“Roger that, Keith! Come on, you filth!” Lance shouted, beginning to sprint down the wide street roads while banging a random trash can lid against a building, “come and get some breakfast!”

“We are not going to be breakfast!” Keith shouted indignantly, turning around to stab two zombies that had begun to gain speed. “Lance! They’re coming at us too fast! We need to gain the upper hand or else we _will_ be breakfast!”

“We can’t do anything, though! What are we supposed to do; run across the rooftops and hope that they don’t follow us?!”

“Yes!” Keith shouted fiercely before jumping up and grabbing onto the fire escape of one of the building closets to him, beginning to climb it with determination.

“Wait, what?!”

“Jump!” Keith barked, looking down at Lance. “They’re gaining on you! Hurry up!”

“You’re crazy!” Lance shouted in disbelief before grabbing his rifle and aiming it at Keith. “Catch!”

He threw it up and Keith caught it, holding onto it tightly while looking down at Lance.

“Come on! Don’t get bit!”

“I’m up!” Lance shouted triumphantly before letting out a screech as a zombie snarled below him and tried to reach out for his shoe. 

Lance kicked the female in the face and began climbing up the fire escape, scampering up after Keith, who had Lance’s rifle strapped around his back. The duo quickly climbed the fire escape before jumping up on the roof, both panting and out of breath.

“What…” Lance huffed, “do we do….now…?”

“I don’t...I don’t know,” Keith said, inhaling air in large gulps. “We...we jump…?”

Lance gaped up at him. “From roof to roof? What the hell?! We’re not some ninjas!”

“Then climb back down the fire escape and get killed by the zombies!” Keith shouted with a glare. “We don’t have any other option, and we need to help as best as we can!”

“Grr,” Lance growled, glaring at Keith. “Fine then! I guess we’re going to fall to our deaths!”

“Lance!”

“Fine!”

The duo began sprinting across the building rooftop, the horde of zombies following them from below. As they jumped from building to building, Lance shot at a few zombies, the duo getting closer and closer to the center where the rest of the horde was. 

“This is actually pretty cool!” Lance grinned, loading up his rifle with more bullets. “That’s right! Come and get some!”

“Lance! Stop jumping!”

“What–woah!” Lance screeched as Keith pulled him back, the boy falling flat on his ass. 

“We’re at the center,” Keith said grimly, looking down in disdain at the zombies. 

“How do we get out before we die with them?” Lance shouted over the loud snarls of the multitude of living dead. 

“We run back as fast as we can! Are you ready?!” Keith asked, digging into the pack tied tightly across his waist. 

“Where the hell did you pull out a grenade from?!”

“Are you ready?” Keith shouted once again, glaring down at Lance. “I can’t do it unless you’re ready!”

“I’m ready!” Lance responded with a firm nod, getting up to his feet and gripping his rifle tightly in his hands. 

“Alright!” Keith quickly popped the top of the grenade off and within milliseconds threw it into the heart of the zombie crowd, the grenade hitting the floor with a small clink. 

“Run!” Keith shouted at the top of his lungs before grabbing onto Lance’s arm and jumping onto the next roof, adrenaline coursing through his veins. 

The pair ran as fast as their legs could carry them across the roof, not bothering to look back at the crowd that was trying to reach the grenade and the few that were trying to run after them. 

Before they could even make it off the last rooftop within the general vicinity, a loud explosion was heard in the distance, the zombies following them suddenly losing interest and running back towards the explosion site, where the screams and moans of the dying dead could be heard. 

Keith and Lance held onto each other as the explosion was heard, bracing themselves for the impact of the bomb. 

It never came. 

Instead, they saw a black minibus roll in at full speed down the dirt path leading into the town, coming to a stop in front of the building where they were stationed at. 

“Oh thank god!” Lance sighed in relief, looking at Keith. “We didn’t die!”

“Hurry and get down before the rest who didn’t die come after us!” Keith snapped, already tugging Lance along towards the fire escape with urgency. 

Lance obliged, too happy about the fact that he was still alive after pulling a crazy stunt to care that Keith was snappy. 

They scrambled down the fire escape and quickly hopped into the minibus, both sighing in relief once the door was closed behind them and Shiro had began to drive them away from the town. 

“Blaze it, Shiro!” Lance shouted, leaning on the driver’s seat and pointing ahead.

“That was...so crazy,” Keith breathed out, looking out at those piled in the minibus. “Are you all okay?”

“Yes,” a woman with a child at her waist spoke up, smiling gratefully up at Keith. “Thank you for saving us, brave one.”

“It was more than just me being the brave one,” Keith breathed, turning around to flash Lance a small smile. “Lance helped too, and so did everyone else.”

Lance blinked, before smiling slightly. 

“It was no problem.”

* * *

“So I saw that you and Lance made goo goo eyes at one another on the bus today,” Pidge said, raising a brow and looking at Keith expectantly. “Mind telling me what that was about?”

“We did not make goo goo eyes,” Keith huffed, throwing his jacket on his bed. “I just said that he helped with the mission, that’s all. No goo goo eyes used there.”

“Maybe this whole zombie apocalypse thing is good for you,” she said with a small tsk. “Can’t imagine you finding someone you like without it. You’re too damn picky about who you date.”

“Is it so bad that I want someone with more than two brain cells? I mean, you would want that too, wouldn’t you?”

“He needs a high IQ and to be handy in battle,” she shrugged. “If we were still living in a world without the creepy crawlers then he would definitely need to have a plan for the future.”

“Everyone wants that,” Keith snorted. “It’s kind of a need. Well, it was. I’m not so sure about now.”

“Eh. Knowing you you’ll still be picky even though more than half of the smart population has been eliminated,” she grinned, stretching her arms over her head. 

“Like you, then.”

“Yep. Ugh. Can you believe Allura sent us on that death trap today? I mean, I would at least expect some kind of training or something but she sent us off to the battlefield without any training. Is that weird? Is it weird that I’m complaining about that?”

Keith shook his head, flopping down on his bed on his back and placing his hands on his stomach. 

“No, you’re right. I’m pretty sure that’s why Shiro only sent Lance and I off to fight by ourselves, though. He has a sense for these kind of things.”

She raised her brows. “You calling me weak?”

“No, no, I’m just saying that Shiro prefers sending me to fight over you,” Keith laughed. “Kill the best fighters off though, and you’ll have no army.”

“Ooh,” she grinned, “foreshadowing. I like it!”

“No one is going to die,” Keith laughed exasperatedly. “It’s just a saying that I heard while roaming around the countryside with another group.”

“Coulda fooled me,” Pidge shrugged, sitting back with her eyes closed. “I mean, it’s true though. If the zombies kill you then we have no team.”

“And that’s why they won’t ever get the chance,” Keith said firmly, narrowing his eyes. “I’m going to live until I’m old, you’ll see. Old and getting grey–”

“With me,” Pidge cooed with a small smirk, batting her eyelashes. “How sweet.”

“Shut up,” Keith chuckled, smiling fondly at her. “We’ll all live, you’ll see. Now go away. I need to sleep before Shiro kills me again during training.”

“Weak,” she sniffed with a grin. “Fine. I’ll get out, but we’re continuing our conversation tomorrow.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

She hit his shoulder lightly with her fist, smiling affectionately at him before hopping off his bed. She made her way out of his room, closing the door behind her as she reached the hallway, smile still on her lips. 

“Is Keith still in there?”

She jumped slightly, eyes widening as she turned around to face Lance, her body tense. 

“What are you doing here?! Your room is all the way down there!” She hissed while pointing a finger to her left. 

“Well, I was on my way but I kinda wanted to pop in and ask him a question,” he said sheepishly, fidgeting slightly. “Is he still in there?”

Pidge narrowed her eyes slightly. “Depends. Are you going to bully him or do you have an actual question?”

“Heh,” Lance snorted, his lips curling into a small smirk, “by the way you care so much one would think that you two are always going smoochy smoo–ow! Okay, okay! I get it! No jokes!”

Pidge nodded and let go of his ear, the boy rubbing it with a small pout on his lips. 

“Better. Seriously, what’s your question? If it’s stupid then don’t bother. He doesn’t entertain stupid questions.”

“Of course, your majesty,” Lance snickered, bowing his head slightly. “My question is a good one, thank you very much. I just wanted to ask him something about the mission today. I promise I won’t try to kill him.”

“Hm,” she said with narrowed eyes. “Well, okay. I guess you can try to talk to him. If you try something though I’ll be over here in less than a minute. I live across the hall.”

“Yes ma’am,” he saluted with a small wink. 

“Ugh. Just go.”

He giggled as she walked across the hall into her own room, waving when she sent him one last glance before closing her door. 

Lance sighed in relief, his shoulders sagging. 

“Phew. I thought she’d never leave.”

“What are you doing here?”

Now it was Lance’s turn to jump, the boy letting out an involuntary shriek as he quickly turned around to face Keith, who was staring at him with a confused quirk of his left brow. 

“Uh, Keith! Hey man! How are you doing?”

“I’d be doing better if I was asleep,” Keith said crossly, cocking his head to the side. “What do you want? Surely you wouldn’t come within twenty feet near me unless you needed something.”

“Uhm, well, it’s about the mission earlier today,” Lance mumbled, chewing on his bottom lip.

“What about it?”

“You kinda congratulated me or whatever for helping you get the people free, and well, I’ve been thinking of something.”

“What is it?”

“I think I’d be more of an effective partner if you and I trained together,” Lance said firmly, his brows pinching together. 

Keith raised his brows in surprise, standing completely upright at this point. 

“Really? I thought you wouldn’t want to since last time I mentioned it, you didn’t–”

“Yeah, well, we actually make a pretty good team,” Lance chuckled sheepishly. “We’d make an even better one if you and I trained together. Or maybe the entire team could train together! That’d be so cool.”

“That’s...actually a good idea. Good thinking, Lance. I’ll be sure to tell Shiro,” Keith smiled. 

“Ah...yeah! That’s totally cool! So, uh...I guess I’ll be...going now….”

“Wait. That’s not all you wanted to say, was it.”

“....back in the bus when you kinda said the thing about me helping–”

Keith’s eyes widened. “Was I out of line bringing you up? I’m sorry–”

“Noooo no no no no no! That’s not it! What I meant to ask was...did your really mean it? Or were you saying it just because Shiro was there?”

“Lance–”

“Because I know you kinda don’t like me and I don’t want you to just be saying things just because you have to and-–”

“Lance!” 

“What?!”

“I didn’t say it just to say it,” Keith snorted quietly. “If I say it, it’s because I mean it. Now go to bed. We start training tomorrow.”

Lance visibly perked up, eyes bright. “Really? You meant it?”

“ _Yes_. Now go. I want to sleep.”

“Oh...okay! I’ll just–see you tomorrow, I guess. Good night, Keith.”

Keith nodded as he watched Lance retreat back down the hallway, a small smile still lingering on his lips even after Lance had shut the door to his room. 

“Good night, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back baby!


End file.
